Though Mozart was typically grudging, Beethoven had a high regard for Muzio Clementi’s compositions. A leading soloist, Clementi was pivotal to the piano’s development as a virtuoso instrument, but he was also a publisher and innovator. His sonatas combine clarity of form with moments of bravura brilliance, laced with scintillating hand-crossings and his trademark chains of thirds, on which Mozart commented. Infectiously exciting in prestissimo sections, his sonatas offer a compendium of how to exploit new advances in the development of the piano.