Gottschalk is a composer you have to cherry-pick, and on paper this is an attractively varied programme mixing the sentimental, eccentric, Chopinesque and virtuoso sides of the composer. Furthermore, there are only two repertoire duplications (Le banjo and Pasquinade) with Cecile Licad’s selection issued in 2003 (8/03), Naxos’s earlier Gottschalk entry in the label’s American Classics series. But what a difference there is between the two pianists.

Tempi and track timings are not always reliable criteria for the purposes of comparison but here they reveal a great deal. Both Licad and Mayer open with Le banjo (an astonishing novelty for 1854): Licad is all sparkling high spirits (3'12"); Mayer (3'56") is dispiritingly dull while disregarding most of the composer’s dynamic markings. The Last Hope, one of Gottschalk’s most popular works in his lifetime, clocks in at an enervating 8'14" under Mayer; Philip Martin, on Vol 3 of the complete solo works (Hyperion, 6/97), shows how even the most saccharine of period pieces can still enchant in the right hands (5'11"). And how much more refined and poetic Martin is in the Andante from La nuit des tropiques (arranged by Gottschalk’s friend Arthur Napoleão) than Mayer in the world premiere of his own transcription.

As for the Grand Fantaisie on the Brazilian National Hymn, I had to check that Guiomar Novaes had not made any cuts in her classic 1927 recording (APR, 1/15). No. Novaes – 8'51"; Mayer – 10'27", due largely to his constantly putting on the brakes and an inability to respond to such instructions as con impeto, scintillante and con furia. And where are the maestoso and grandioso of the opening measures? The playing of the rest of the programme, which includes three of the composer’s least interesting works, offers a similar listening experience: more of a penance than a pleasure. To hear Gottschalk at his best turn to Martin, Licad, or (if you can track them down) Leonard Pennario and Ivan Davis. Mayer, I’m afraid, doesn’t get Gottschalk.