If you enjoyed the first volume in this new series (as I did), you will find Volume 2 equally appealing. Alessandro Marangoni doesn't have the...

If you enjoyed the first volume in this new series (as I did), you will find Volume 2 equally appealing. Alessandro Marangoni doesn't have the impish sense of humor of Paolo Giacometti on Channel Classics, and he's notably slower in just about every piece. But it never seems as though his tempos are dragging, perhaps because his pacing is well-tailored to the larger sound of his Steinway piano (Giacometti plays on a crisper-toned "authentic" instrument). In the gentler numbers, such as Une caresse à ma femme, or the lovely Barcarolle, some listeners might well prefer Marangoni's greater lyrical expansiveness, even as his graceful take on Assez de memento: dansons fails to banish the relative darkness of the preceding Memento homo (let alone evoke a Satie-like humor). Still, he captures the witty program of Un petit train de plaisir, comico-imitatif quite well, while the Valse torturée sounds all the more quirky for being taken seriously. In short, this recital offers a perfectly valid and entertaining alternative viewpoint to Giacometti, and is well recorded besides.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com