We're told that Phyllis Moss (a new name to me) studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with the renowned Isbabelle Vengerova after making a striking debut at the age of 12. Listening to this disc I had the impression that while her spirit is willing, her fingers are not always as obliging as they once were—certainly not obliging enough to sound wholly stylish in a programme as technically demanding as this. Her feeling for the A flat Sonata (which she describes in the booklet as the gem of Weber's four) is obvious. But just as its virtuoso flights need a more elegant fluency, so its lyricism needs phrasing of more charm and grace. Tone is inclined to coarsen in the more demonstrative upheavals of the first movement's development, likewise the C major climax of the Andante, surely taken rather too slowly. A shade less pedal would have helped articulation in the main theme of the Menuetto capriccioso. It's the unassuming final Rondo that finds this pianist at her most relaxed and persuasive.
Whereas the Sonata dates from 1816 when Weber was 30, the other works, including the world-famous Invitation, all grew from the summer of 1819 when, as JW once put it, he ''poured the invention that had been lying stagnant for the first half of the year into a stream of dazzling instrumental pieces which were completed in the space of a month''. Though lacking the ultimate in elan and sparkle, these performances are wholly free from self-conscious coquetry. They have a wholesome straightforwardness. The recording is full and forward with just a touch of synthetic-sounding clang in the tone above a certain dynamic level.'