I picked up the Hype­r­ion album of Leslie Howard play­ing Liszt’s Paganini Etudes. Con­clu­sion: Pretty good, but not quite perfect.

Franz Liszt was a hyper­ac­tive, chain-smoking piano vir­tu­oso with a pen­chant for alco­hol and women. (Sup­pos­edly he hooked up with pianist Marie Pleyel on a bor­rowed couch in Chopin’s apart­ment.) It is evi­dent from his play­ing, I think, that Leslie Howard has few of these noble traits, which is slightly disappointing.