The pianist tells us in his introductory note that he has performed this programme many times in concert, ‘built around three composers from Vienna’. Even allowing all three to be echt Wienerisch, the juxtaposition of Op 111 followed by the Berg Sonata followed by K310 is an uncomfortable one for my taste, rounded off rather strangely with a sequence of 11 Beethoven miniatures.

Mikhail Shilyaev (b1979, Izhevsk, Russia, now resident in London) is a name new to me and, though the booklet has no biography, his website boasts a string of competition wins, the most recent being the Bronze Medal at the 2010 Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition. I cannot, frankly, hear a strong musical personality here, rather a technically accomplished pianist of taste and sensibility. The clarity of his voicing and adroit phrasing in the Beethoven and Mozart sonatas are exemplary but rival recordings are many and Shilyaev cannot compete with the likes of Gulda (back in 1953) or Kempff (from 1964) in Op 111, nor Lipatti in K310 (given here, incidentally, without the first-movement repeat), all three of whom are on another level.

Shilyaev is hampered, too, by the small acoustic of London’s Master Chord Studio, especially noticeable in the Berg Sonata, which needs the full singing dynamic range of the piano to be successful (compare this with Karim Said’s urgent, passionate account, 03/15). The Op 119 Bagatelles are neatly, charmingly done (though there’s surely more fun to be had from Nos 3 and 5) before the Andante favori, listed as a ‘bonus track’, ends this modest carte de visite.