Billy Joel (b1949) was at the forefront of the singer­songwriter movement that swept through the pop music world from the late 1960s. Songs like Just the way you are and albums like ‘Piano Man’ are legacies from that period. He’s a pianist‚ too‚ though on this occasion his pieces are played by the highly accomplished Richard Joo. The idea for ‘Fantasies & Delusions’ is mirrored by the sleeve‚ a reproduction of the familiar Schirmer editions of the popular classics‚ the yellow background trimmed with a green border. For these 10 works‚ composed during the past eight years‚ are nothing less than a nostalgic look back at the piano pieces of Chopin‚ Liszt and other masters of the keyboard recreated in their image by someone who clearly has a soft spot for them. Each piece is named after its opus number followed by a descriptive title that includes a further description in brackets: for instance‚ Op 3‚ Reverie (‘Villa d’este’). Joel’s approach to each opus (‘Aria‚ Waltz‚ Fantasy‚ Air’) is broadly Romantic in style‚ never less than tuneful‚ and often reminiscent of the real thing‚ for instance the Waltz No 1 (‘Nunley’s Carousel’)‚ recalls the unbuttoned mood of Chopin’s Valse Brillante. Sometimes he taps a deeper vein as in Op 1 Soliloquy (‘On a separation’)‚ where at 6'40" in‚ over a low bass accompaniment‚ there evolves a melody with a true ardour to it. My favourite track (a ‘Dublinesque’ Air crying out for a lyric) was the last‚ a theme followed by a picturesque‚ rumbustious variation. By and large though‚ it would be a delusion itself to suggest there was more on offer here than a set of pastiche pieces. Joo plays all of them sympathetically and is recorded in sound that leaves nothing to be desired.