Barry Douglas in the Waldstein and Appassionata, so far from being youthfully impetuous, gives unusually clean-cut readings, crisply controlled. If one misses [a] of fantasy and fire..., Douglas's more measured readings are always taut and alert, never dull or cautious-sounding. The recording, made in Watford Town Hall, is arguably the finest of all, with warm-toned legato for the second subject melody and the central Andante in the Appassionata. In the first movement of Op. 90 Douglas is fresh and open, and his most controversial reading comes in the lyrical Rondo which follows, where in observing the instruction that it should be played not too fast and in a songful way, he adopts an unusually spacious speed... I would welcome more fire in all these works, but Douglas's readings have a strength and command that will not disappoint anyone who wants this coupling.
