So stood Cuculain, even in death-pangs, a terror to his enemies, for a deep spring of stern valour was opened in his soul, and the might of his unfathomable spirit sustained him.

Thus perished Cuculain ..." Superb as this is, it is paralleled by MacDowell's tone-picture.

That, for nobility of conception, for majestic solemnity and pathos, is a musical performance which measures up to the level of superlative achievements.
If there is anything in the literature of the piano since the death of Beethoven which, for combined passion, dignity, breadth of style, weight of momentum, and irresistible plangency of emotion, is comparable to the four sonatas which have been considered here, I do not know of it.

And I write these words with a perfectly definite consciousness of all that they may be held to imply..