In this music, all is dialogue, mingled avowals and passions, on the threshold of the opera house. All Mozart’s forms are nurtured by the same source, that of vocal melody. “I like an aria to be as precisely tailored to a singer as a well-cut suit,” he declared when he composed an aria. And what an aria this one is. The keyboard enters into dialogue with the soloist.

While any of Liszt's superb transcriptions of Beethoven's first eight symphonies is a challenge for the pianist, the two-piano arrangement of the Ninth is at once spellbinding and a formidable test. This remarkable synthesis of soloists, chorus and orchestra presents a powerful structure that condenses all the fearsome difficulties of ensemble playing for the two pianists. This version by Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia displays extraordinary nobility, truth and grandeur, with the epic sweep ideally suited to the "Ode to Joy".

Famed for his Debussy playing, the pianist Philippe Cassard brings his acute ear for instrumental color to these deceptively simple miniatures. Like Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words requires a master pianist’s touch, and Cassard is fully up to the challenge. He plays with an accompanist’s sensitivity (he works regularly with the soprano Natalie Dessay) and brushes in the melodies with real skill. His control of line is effortless, and the music simply flows on the wings of song.