While Liszt’s solo piano arrangements of Beethoven’s symphonies frequently and impressively conjure up orchestral grandeur, the piano-writing is idiomatic and finger-friendly, at least to those accomplished enough to master its challenges. With that in mind, Gabriele Baldocci treats the Beethoven/Liszt Eroica as a symphony for piano and pianist. From the broadening introductory chords onwards, the pianist inflects his brisk first-movement tempo with rhetorical adjustments that few contemporary conductors would fathom yet which manage to sound fluidly organic. Big chords representing massive orchestral tuttis constantly vary in weight and voicing, while careful contouring of inner voices and secondary contrapuntal lines helps move things along.

The Funeral March is no less remarkable in Baldocci’s hands. He unfolds the main theme with the subtlest rubato that allows bass-lines to take meaningful shape, while well-differentiated legato and detached phrasing lend further textural interest and distinction. While Baldocci’s acceleration in the fughetta arguably softens the music’s devastating build, it admittedly makes pianistic sense. Although I’ve heard lighter, more pointed articulation of the Scherzo’s steady staccato chords (Scherbakov and Katsaris, for example), Baldocci compensates by bringing out all of the composer’s cross-rhythmic phrases and accentuations. Both pianistically and musically, each of the finale’s variations conveys a distinct yet related character; unity through diversity, in other words.

Given Baldocci’s piano-centric orientation in the Eroica, it’s ironic that he should approach the intimately scaled Op 126 Bagatelles from a relatively orchestral vantage point. Nos 1 and 3 proceed with the austere deliberation of late-period Klemperer, and No 2’s combative contrasts reveal little charm. Baldocci extends the grim energy he brings to No 4’s outer sections to the major-key central episode, which most pianists view as a place of lyrical respite. A tinge of warmth begins to seep through the last two bagatelles, but only a tinge. Needless to say, it takes a pianist of Baldocci’s formidable capabilities to bring off his unorthodox ideas, whether or not one agrees with them. Yet there’s much to agree with and to savour throughout an absorbing Eroica that bodes well for this Beethoven/Liszt cycle’s subsequent instalments.