After Brendel’s successful‚ and occasionally inspiring‚ two­disc set of live Schubert performances (Philips‚ 3/01) this Salzburg compilation comes as something of a let­down. Poor sound quality is the main drawback. In part this may be due to Austrian Radio’s 1980s recordings‚ which were presumably never made with posterity in mind‚ but things are exacerbated by Brendel’s own uncompromising touch. These are supposedly specially selected performances. But can that really be true of the Haydn Variations? Here Brendel omits all the repeats‚ distorting the effect of Haydn’s magnificent escape from structural rigidity in the last Variation (which in any case he plays surprisingly crudely). In the first minor Variation‚ at 2'28"‚ his left hand begins the second half in the wrong octave; though that actually matters less than the lack of tonal blend throughout the performance. Things are much better in the C major Sonata‚ mainly because the perkiness of its outer movements suits Brendel’s temperament so much better. Here his quick­wittedness and sensitivity to harmonic direction serve him and the music admirably. The slow movement is less happy – too much of it is poked out in undifferentiated dots rather than shaped into long lines. Schubert’s A minor Sonata is marred by Brendel’s apparent reluctance to make allowances for the instrument’s clangorous treble. When the first movement’s consoling second subject arrives‚ it is clear that we are in the presence of a major Schubertian interpreter. But in general it is hard to listen past the glare of the sound. The C major Sonata (just its two completed movements) from the same recital is less seriously affected‚ and here Brendel’s understanding of the inner workings of the first movement is nothing less than magnificent. A passionate but once again tonally unforgiving account of Isolde’s ‘Transfiguration’ completes a disc that has many musical rewards but that should not‚ in view of its sound quality‚ have been issued at full price.