The impressive series of orchestral works that Valentin Silvestrov wrote between his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies should not obscure the virtues of his piano miniatures. Jenny Lin’s advocacy is reflected by her care in sequencing them into a viable recital that begins with the pensive melancholy of Nostalghia, then continues with the fervent simplicity of the Two Pieces, Benedictus and Sanctus. Two Dialogues with an Epilogue makes serene excursions into the domains of Schubert and Wagner before subsuming them into the composer’s own world, while Three Postludes is a more animated token of appreciation to this pianist.

Three Pieces demonstrates a stylistic continuity between Silvestrov’s distant past in the Debussian “Bagatelle” from 1958, and his recent present in the limpid “Hymn 2001” and “Melody”, before the “Moments” pair recreates a mid-Romantic piano music in wonderfully subtle terms. Three Waltzes is a likewise unfettered tribute to the Second Viennese triumvirate, its “lyrical dodecaphony” one that Silvestrov had explored extensively in his First Piano Sonata (1960/72). This two-movement piece works its way intently through a harmonic angularity and a contrapuntal intricacy to a repose such as makes The Messenger 1996 a natural “finale” as well as to the overall programme.

Lin is an ideal exponent of music whose superfine dynamic and textural contrasts create their own expressive intensity, and she has been well served by Hänssler’s clear yet spacious recording. Alexei Lubimov’s authoritative Erato disc of all three piano sonatas urgently warrants reissue, but as an overall Silvestrov conspectus this could hardly be bettered.