The Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, who died last year, was one of music's unsung heroes, attracting a large band of followers but so publicity averse that he was always shrouded in mystery. Sharing Martha Argerich's Latin American background, he was her favourite partner for duets, but as a soloist in his own right he possessed a unique magic. The performances on this CD, mostly produced by Dominic Fyfe, make a lovely coda to his discography.

Every one of these recordings is like gold dust. The cantabile of the Gluck/Sgambati ‘Dance of the blessed spirits’ is exquisite, as is the Bach/Hess ‘Jesu, joy of man's desiring’. Beethoven's Andante favori is subtly sprung, while the Bagatelle Op 119/11 is like a stray thought caught on the wing. Debussy's La plus que lente feels like desultoriness raised to a fine art. The concerto recordings – including Bartók 1, Brahms 2 and Strauss' Burleske in D minor – each have their particular strengths.

But for me the best is Freire's performance in Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, with Saint-Saëns' iridescent and rarely performed cadenzas. Freire's playing has a luminosity which one senses rather than consciously grasps, with pearlised runs and trills, ultra-delicate passagework and infinitesimal pauses through which, surrounded by other musicians, he exerts benign control.

Freire's final message to Fyfe – when he had realised last year that he would never play again – ended with the plaintive words: ‘I don't want to be forgotten.’ For those who listen to this CD, he won't.