Note how the music unfolds in all its passion, drama, and mystery. Tempos may wildly fluctuate, but the whole is never fractured. This is one of the great recorded performances of the work, in a league with Cortot, Horowitz, Arrau, Gilels, and Richter. Spozalizio is also brilliantly realized, though the 1929 sound is limited. No. 29, the only stereo recording of the batch is breathtaking.
Few pianists have the resources to bring the composer's impossible writing to life.
It has to be heard to be believed. Stretched to the breaking point, it explores worlds unimagined by most pianists. Those treacherous trills are perfectly executed. Levy plays his own miniatures with obvious affection. Ward Marston, that master transfer artist, has done his best with the varied source materials.