Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the most fascinating and rewarding artists working today. It's fashionable in classical music circles to complain about the fact that all of the great artists are dead, and that no one matches the achievements of generations past. This is nonsense, and Hamelin offers convincing proof. He is without a doubt one of the two or three most technically accomplished players alive. But more than that, he's so thoroughly musical that more often than not you aren't even conscious of his frequently insane virtuosity. Every single one of his records is worth owning, and this complete set of Scriabin sonatas in no exception. If you're a piano fan, you must hear it. --David Hurwitz