FROM the great piano maestro himself, the Dante sonata and the Dante symphony fell from Liszt's pen 20 years apart. The sonata, which developed from being a fragment dantesque to the 7th piece in Annees de pelerinage has been arranged for two pianos by Bresciani. With two pianists at the keys here, the rhythms often speak in a laboured, polyrhythmic way rather than in a rubato flourish a la Liszt. For the Dante Symphony, in the composer's own transcription for two pianos and chorus, this title is worth a look, though Naxos have not overly challenged themselves in the engineering department.

Karen Dervan