Palenicek's recording of Janacek's piano pieces originally formed part of a two-LP set that included the Concertino and Capriccio (see page 44). They remain in many ways attractive performances, tentative, regretful, sensitive to details of what is often very elliptical phrasing. He does, however, handle the music in a dangerously free manner, risking something too personal, too much concerned with emotions lying near the surface rather than with the contained passion that informs the Sonata. He is less successful here than Rudolf Firkusny (DG and RCA, both 3/91), among others, though there is much to admire in his delicate playing of the four In the mists pieces, and in the journey back down half-forgotten experiences in the first suite of the pieces entitled Along an overgrown path. Even here, though, I prefer Firkusny's greater strength, his firm phrasing suggesting something more positive in the attitude to the past, and to past griefs, rather than a melancholy fondling of present emotions. The piano recording now sounds a little dull.'