Recording and releasing this CD was part of the booty awarded to the Italian pianist Roberto Plano who, at the age of 25, followed China's Xiang Zou and Canada's Winston Choi as the third-place laureate at the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary. Plano is no towering keyboard titan, showering his listeners with torrents of notes. He is innately musical and thoughtful and many aspects of his playing are most appealing, including the articulately shaped phrases, limpid tone in soft passages and immaculately tidy technique. As such, it is no surprise that he conveys the smaller, more intimate world of Op. 118 more persuasively than he does the muscular bravado of Op. 5. The sensitivity and empathy that inform his reading of the late, introspective pieces make his performance a real pleasure to hear. In Plano's hands, for instance, the counterpoint in Op. 118 is translucent, the inner voices of the music engaged in amiable conversation with each other while making eminent musical sense. He has a sure understanding of each movement's individuality yet brings an exquisite nuance to the Sonata's tender moments – the Andante espressivo and the calm, reflective Intermezzo (Rückblick)–but the homogeneity of his traversal of the Sonata's 40-minute span leads to a lack of contrasts between the work's expressive extremes. Nevertheless, on the basis of this CD alone, there's a lot to like about Plano's pianism. Although one would turn to others for the big and bravura repertoire, I imagine hearing Plano in a recital of small, intimate pieces in a small, intimate venue would be a most rewarding experience. This CD has perfectly respectable, if not exceptional, recorded sound.

Robert Plano displays a wonderful sense of breadth in his interpretation of the Brahms Sonata. I would have liked a quicker tempo and more impetuous rhythmic drive in the outer movements, but the second movement won me over with lyrical phrasing, lovely tone quality, and a wonderful sense of rubato heading into climaxes. I had a similar impression with the Klavierstücke. I thought that the opening Intermezzo could have had a bit more abandon, warranted by the ‘molto appassionato’ indication. The Ballade could have had a greater sense of ‘energico’, but these are small and subjective criticisms. Plano is already a mature artist – he creates lovely sonorities that fill space with rich and imaginative soundscapes.