These virtues further distinguish Baselga's excellent interpretation of the derivative yet fascinating Fourth Piano Sonata. This early work owes its rhythmic and motivic flavor to Mendelssohn and Schumann, although its sensuous keyboard writing already contains the textural genome that would spread like wildfire in Iberia. Among the Suite espagnole's eight movements, I especially like Baselga's snappy account of the Seguidillas, and his leaner, calmer Nocturno that differs from Alicia De Larrocha's more massive, moody traversal. However, other movements find Baselga more vulnerable to comparison with the great lady.

His faster tempo for Asturias generates more superficial excitement, but at the expense of the uniformity and poise of De Larrocha's peerless repeated notes. Baselga's impulsive dynamic surges throughout Cádiz cause the balances between melodies, accompaniments, and bass lines to skew, whereas De Larrocha gets the proportions right in her simpler, more controlled, and utterly magical rendition. Walter Aaron Clark contributes succinct, informative notes, and the engineering sustains the high standards of this cycle's previous volumes. A fine disc, overall.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com