amazing keyboard dexterity … ultra-clear articulation

The technical challenges of these 12 studies are daunting, but they have individual characters, too. Gerstein plays them without any sense of being stretched, finds time to create poetry and drama, and is sparing with his big guns. “Feux follets”, a familiar favourite, is magical. “Wilde Jagd” is at once a headlong chase and a model of restraint. In these imaginative performances the whole set adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

From the opening Preludio...we gather that Gerstein is no mere showman but a storyteller who, even at the height of Liszt’s ferocious challenges, lets the music breathe, controlling its ebb and flow with enormous skill.You won’t, I think, hear better versions of Nos 11 and 12...Overall, it’s a terrific achievement.

Gerstein, a superb interpreter, seeks and convincingly finds the work’s grand unity — his thoughts on the matter are revealed in the lucid booklet interview, but, more important, in the ever-sensitive playing itself...the unfolding is gripping, intricately fascinating and uniquely poetic.

Gerstein had an early encounter with jazz before deciding, aged 16, to becoming a classical pianist. Perhaps that knowledge of improvisation, together with a sharp, analytical approach, gives his playing its distinctive freedom, risk and excitement.

listen to the ruminative close of Paysage, the robust masculinity of the fiery Mazeppa, the will-o’-the-wisp delicacy of Feux Folets, the magisterial flamboyance of Eroica, or the wild (though tightly controlled) frenzy of Wilde Jagd – Gerstein presents them as one magical discovery after another. His tonal vocabulary is considerable, and while detail is paramount, the big picture is potent and foremost

As exciting, fresh and beautiful a complete set of these studies as this reviewer has heard … Throughout there is an improvisatory freedom placed always at the service of, rather than distracting from, these remarkable pieces.

This disc of Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Etudes is dizzyingly good … it’s to Gerstein’s credit that the musical values triumph over empty virtuosity. There are moments when you want to giggle with incredulity at what you’re hearing…thrilling stuff – Gerstein’s playing combines technical brilliance with a beating heart, and the close, rich recording adds to the disc’s impact.

Kirill Gerstein has no misconceptions of the genius behind these Etudes, and his technique matches the transcendental demands of these works.

His playing has a delicate relaxation, a playfulness, he’s comfortable with letting the pulse just hang in the air, he can be drivingly rhythmic when he needs to be, with a great feel for time and colour … We have a pianist here for whom technique is almost secondary, he’s a step beyond it, and that’s an important aspect of what these transcendental studies represent.