This richly enterprising programme couples Rachmaninov’s 1926 version of his Fourth Piano Concerto with Medtner’s Second, works which both composers lovingly dedicated to each other. For good measure Sudbin adds his own transcription of Rachmaninov’s Floods of Spring to say nothing of lively accompanying notes that refer to “Music-Neanderthals” who demean both Rachmaninov and Medtner. By 1941 Rachmaninov presented a drastically pruned version of his Fourth Concerto, reducing it by 192 bars, and it is this version, much to Sudbin’s chagrin, that is generally played today. But here he makes a strong case for Rachmaninov’s early length and elaboration both verbally and in playing which captures a special sense of the chill wind that blows across its surface, the fast fading of the emotional warmth of the first three concertos. Here, former sweetness is very much on the turn and there are many moments when this dazzling and unsettling work sounds like a parody of Rachmaninov’s first rhetoric and grandiloquence. Less vital or revelatory than in his recording of Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto, Sudbin’s relatively low-key playing never leaves you in doubt of his musicianship and dexterity. For him both Rachmaninov and Medtner are too serious for overt display so that even when you miss Michelangeli’s legendary frisson and authority (his record is of Rachmaninov’s 1941 revision – EMI, 5/00) or Demidenko’s scarcely less formidable brilliance in Medtner’s Second Concerto (Hyperion, 4/92) you may well warm to a gentler, more accomodating view. Sudbin’s poetic quality shines through every bar of his encore, the elemental force of Earl Wild’s arrangement and recording (Dell’Arte, 11/87) again reduced to more comfortable proportions. BIS’s sound and balance emphasise their pianist’s reserve and occasional self-effacement.