blessed with an awe-inspiring partnership with Boulez, Barenboim reaches out to a symphonic granduer and musical range undreamt of by lesser musicians. Time and again he shines a wholly personal light on music that has all too often encourages (notably on the competition circuit) a facile alternative to quality...he makes Liszt's musical possibilities stretch far into the horizon.

The pairing of the cool Boulez with the more expressive Barenboim might seem a mismatch of styles; but with Boulez wielding the baton over Barenboim's Staatskapelle Berlin as the pianist tackles these two pillars of Liszt's musical temple, a magical balance is achieved that allows the music's character to surge forth with no recourse to the easy victories of cliché.

It’s easy to garland these virtuoso concertos with tinsel and vulgarise the emotions. Barenboim, with Boulez’s assistance, will have none of it. He phrases his fingerings with lyrical finesse, while Boulez’s passion for clarity reaps large rewards in the play of colours and instrumental balance. Like restored paintings with the nasty varnish removed, the concertos emerge reborn, and newly powerful.