Pupil, friend and protégé of Beethoven and teacher of Liszt, Czerny composed more than a thousand compositions that have, sadly, been overshadowed by his pedagogical works (The School of Velocity, The Art of Finger Dexterity, etc). But, as this scintillating two-disc album (the third in Martin Jones’s Czerny series) shows, such neglect is unmerited – moving on from the dazzling La ricordanza Variations (a Horowitz favourite) and the Variations brillantes (a Hough favourite) is music of often remarkable resource. The B flat Sonata brims with zest, cascades of double notes and one thorny virtuoso gesture after another. The bouncy Scherzo (aptly described in Calum MacDonald’s notes as ‘naughtily capering’) is a special delight.

The Third Sonata, however, has more than a touch of quasi-orchestral grandeur, and if its march rhythms remind you of both Schumann and Alkan, the gnomic progression of its Andante foreshadows something later turned to mordant advantage by Prokofiev in the Andantino from his Fifth Piano Sonata. The Capriccio à la fuga is a witty take on Bach, and all this ultra-demanding music is played by Martin Jones with seemingly effortless mastery and a special musical commitment. Enterprise and accomplishment could scarcely go further, and every ear-tickling note is captured in Nimbus’s superbly bold and exciting sound.