Pianist Catherine Gordeladze begins her recital promisingly with hard-hitting yet virile readings of two Rameau-Godowsky transcriptions plus two pure, unadulterated Rameau pieces (well, mostly unadulterated). She gives Czerny’s rarely performed Variations an appropriately affettuoso spin. However, her lurching heave-ho rhythms and choppy phrasing throughout the three Chopin waltzes are frankly beyond the pale.

Gordeladze tends to break the pulse when rolling chords in the Bizet-Rachmaninov transcription but otherwise her deliberately clipped, slightly arch interpretation passes muster. Her rhythmic distortions cause the Kreisler-Rachmaninov Liebeslied and Liebesfreud to lose shape and momentum as they unfold. What the Godowsky Alt-Wien and Albéniz-Godowsky Tango lack in a basic overall pulse is compensated by fanciful nuances and dabs of colour.

The Vecsey-Cziffra Valse triste focuses too closely on background figurations and not enough on the transcription’s flashy, darting lines: the opposite of Cziffra’s own, even more mercurial performance. Lastly, Gordeladze’s antsy rhythmic sense causes Ravel’s La valse to sputter in fits and starts, with little cohesion. How ironic that a release titled ‘Dance Fantasies’ largely consists of performances that defy you to dance.