Muzio?Clementi?came to England rightly believing that life for a composer would be far less competitive than in his native Italy, and soon found himself in great demand as a keyboard exponent and conductor. His fame continued to grow with his tours of Europe, eventually resulting in a competition with Mozart in 1781 to establish who was the leading performer. Though the result was inconclusive, Mozart seems to have been preferred. Back home in England his success was cut short by the triumphant first visit of Haydn, and he moved the emphasis of his life to that of the most successful music publishing house. That allowed him to further the cause of his own music including his large output for keyboard, his series of sonatas playing a role in the development of that form of music. He certainly could write highly attractive works, but it was a quantum leap to the sonatas of Beethoven which were to follow. This is the second disc is the series of a projected cycle and concentrates on the early sonatas persuasively played by Susan Alexander-Max.?Born in New York she has enjoyed a career as a concert pianist before deciding in 1996 to dedicate herself to period instrument performances. She plays this modern reproduction fortepiano with great clarity and is suitably nimble in Clementi's fast finales. If you want to sample the music try track 3, the Rondo finale to the opus 11 sonata, its quick and lively atmosphere showing the music at its best. The recording made in London is very good.