Eden Walker, a British pianist based in Hamburg, has chosen Max Reger for what is apparently his debut recording. The theme on which Reger based his Op 81 was apparently selected by the piece’s dedicatee, the pianist August Schmid-Lindner. He chose the oboe introduction to the alto and tenor duet ‘Sein Allmacht zu ergründen’ from Bach’s Cantata No 128 for the Feast of the Ascension. Despite the truncated resonance at the end of certain variations, as though the recording equipment had been abruptly cut off, Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Bach strikes as the more ‘lived in’, contrasted and expressive of the pieces on this programme.

Dreams by the Fireplace, subtitled ‘12 Little Pieces’, dates from 1916, the final year of Reger’s life. The collection was published as Book 1, obviously implying that further pieces in the series were anticipated. Appropriately, I suppose, for dreaming at a fireside, these dozen miniatures are in no rush. Three are marked Larghetto, with others labelled Molto adagio, with andantinos and molto sostenutos thrown in for good measure. Three Vivaces and the single Agitato all seem afflicted by a curiously vague lethargy. The pervasively drab pall hovering over the set is exacerbated by Walker’s apparent aversion to dynamic contrasts. In the 10th piece, for instance, a bar of fortissimo diminishes over three bars to a pianissimo. In this performance the four bars sound at a more or less undifferentiated mezzo-forte.

One looks forward to hearing Walker in more congenial and perhaps better-suited repertory.