This Liszt release by pianist Kenneth Hamilton contains the Piano Sonata in B minor and several other larger works, but it also has an unusual number of miniatures. To tell the truth, even the Piano Sonata, precisely and unsentimentally rendered, sounds something like a string of miniatures in this reading. It's certainly not for listeners wanting a picture of Liszt, the famed virtuoso, but this is a fresh look at the composer's career. Hamilton focuses mostly on the latter part of Liszt's life, when he set virtuoso stardom aside and settled in Weimar, devoting himself primarily to composition rather than pianism. Some of the pieces here point to his increasing religiosity in later years; there are four selections from the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, markedly different from anything Liszt had written up to that point. Hamilton also includes several of the wildly experimental, almost atonal pieces from late in Liszt's life, such as Nuages gris and the Csárdás macabre. There is even a Schubert Impromptu that Liszt edited and slightly adorned; a second volume will apparently focus on transcriptions and adaptations. Hamilton indicates that he tried to place himself in the position of being one of Liszt's students, and to approach the music from a 19th century perspective, presumably rather than that of a 20th or 21st century piano star. This is fresh, and in its way, this is a recording that brings the listener closer to Liszt's inner personality.