It was the 21-year-old Liszt's encounter with Paganini in concert that first set him on the path of becoming an instrumental virtuoso himself, and what better material to show off his skills than his transcriptions for piano of some of the works with which the violinist stunned his public. Schumann, who had already done some Paganini transcriptions of his own, wrote admiringly that the Liszt works were "probably the most difficult ever written for the pianoforte". No problems there for Marc-André Hamelin, whose quicksilver technique is well up to the task. But the artistry in this music is not just in being able to play it but in throwing it off with a light hand, and here Hamelin is really in his element, beguiling the ear with wittily delicious playing worthy of Paganini himself. Try "La campanella" and be prepared to be delighted. There is weightier material in the three Schubert marches, which Liszt loved so much that aside from these transcriptions he also arranged them for orchestra and for piano duet. Again it is the great subtlety of Hamelin's understated playing which lifts the music, and as ever with Hyperion discs the piano rings out with marvellous clarity. –-Keith Clarke