Volume 26 in Hyperion’s engrossing if uneven ‘Romantic Piano Concerto’ series completes Peter Donohoe’s magisterial survey of Litolff’s five piano concertos (sadly‚ the First is lost). Litolff’s dauntingly capacious and ambitious structures accommodate every possible style‚ looking forwards and backwards Janus­style‚ yet reaching out in the strange almost Alkanesque oddity of the Fifth Concerto’s last two movements towards a more personal and distinctive style. Admired by Tchaikovsky‚ Liszt and Berlioz (though with some telling reservations)‚ Litolff enjoyed a hectic career (part idyll‚ part drama and novelistic intrigue according to the pianist Marmontel) which is mirrored in writing of a formidable intricacy. So even if claims that he was ‘the English Liszt’ and that his development sections are similar to late Beethoven seem far­fetched‚ the sheer energy and resource of Litolff’s writing are absorbing. Few pianists of any nationality could approach‚ let alone top‚ Peter Donohoe’s blistering virtuosity in these works. His performances throughout are as rock­steady as they are dazzling‚ sweeping aside torrents of notes with both affection and an imperious authority. Hear him in the fugal cadenza of the Fifth Concerto’s finale‚ in the exultant whirl which opens the Third Concerto’s finale‚ or (to recall for a moment Litolff’s most popular work) in his ferocious clip through the Scherzo of the Fourth Concerto‚ and you can only marvel at such unfaltering command‚ ideally complemented by Andrew Litton and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The recordings are even more successful in terms of sound and balance than on Volume 14 (4/97)‚ and Jeremy Dibble’s superb notes are a major asset. The Fifth Concerto receives its first recording‚ and this is an invaluable issue for lovers of intriguing repertoire and piano­playing of pulverising mastery.