Daniel Graham is, I think, the only previous pianist to have recorded both sets of these important and scandalously overlooked études (on a Musical Heritage Society LP) and they have long needed a good modern recording. This, despite my fervent hopes, is not it.

There is some dreadfully disappointing playing here, many of the studies emerging lifeless and dispirited. At times Piers Lane seems unable to respond to, or take on board, any of Henselt’s helpful guidance. Take Op 2 No 3, the B minor study, a pleasant Mendelssohnian exercise for the fifth finger. Having played the entire first two pages at mezzo-forte and with precious little alleviating rubato, at 1’24” Lane ignores the pp, con abbandono,/I> and the poco a poco crescendo markings, preferring to plod on in the same page-turning manner. Why? It makes Henselt sound like a bore. By contrast, Michel Ponti brought an infectious energy and imagination to the Op 2 set in a musical and properly virtuoso manner (Vox, nla). These are, after all, études. Brilliance and speed are frequently critical factors in their success. In the most famous of them, No 6 (‘Si oiseau j’etais’), a difficult leggiero study in sixths, Rachmaninov’s 1923 recording (RCA, 3/93) enchantingly and effortlessly captures its essence, flying home in 1’42”; Lane comes home to roost a full 40 seconds later. In a piece of this length, that is substantial.

The Op 5 set fares similarly; for example, the scintillating A minor study (No 3, ‘Hexentanz’) is marked allegro con brio e feroce and to be played leggiero e martellato, requests which, once again, Piers Lane fails to meet. The disc’s booklet, though industriously detailed, is equally leaden. In all, a lost opportunity, an uncharacteristic response from this gifted artist, and a rare mis-hit from this usually impeccable source.