Franci’s hyperbolic booklet-note leaves one in no doubt as to his advocacy of this music. There’s some exquisitely detailed playing here, whether in the various miniatures, the powerfully cumulative Passacaglia, or the hypnotic Night Thoughts. In the three larger works, however, Franci’s extrordinarily drawn-out approach completely undermines their formal precision. The Sonata’s opening movement seems little more than a series of chords, while the Fantasy’s finely judged momentum is lost amid the general lethargy. Worth hearing, but Leo Smit’s similar collection (Sony Classical, 6/81) is far preferable to live with.'