You might have heard of the Chinese pianist Tianxu An before, not because of his piano-playing but because of his amazing sang froid. In the final of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he went onstage expecting to play the Tchaikovsky No 1 with Vasily Petrenko. Instead, he was faced with the very short introduction to Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Apart from coming in a beat late and giving no more than a puzzled look to the conductor, there was nothing to indicate that Tianxu An was experiencing every pianist’s nightmare. He won fourth prize and a special medal for heroism.

That experience in Russia clearly did not put him off Russian music. Indeed, quite the opposite, as he explains in his essay accompanying the disc and demonstrates in this exemplary and often moving recital. He has an innate affinity with the three composers presented here. He opens with Tchaikovsky at his most brooding and melancholic in the early F major Nocturne and October (‘Chant d’automne’) from The Seasons. ‘Troika’ (November) cheers things up a little before the helter-skelter triplets of the ‘Scherzo-fantaisie’ from the 18 pieces of Op 72. I prefer Tianxu An’s more measured approach to Pletnev’s (a hectic 90 seconds faster – DG, 7/05) though, disappointingly, he underplays the final two bars. Not so those of ‘Méditation’ from the same set, a beautifully executed extended trill, ending pppp.

After Tchaikovsky, Tianxu An moves up a gear or two for the motoric rhythms of Prokofiev’s four early Études, Op 2 (1909), comparative rarities and alone worth the price of the disc, dispatched with insouciant élan. Garrick Ohlsson (Hyperion, 5/15) sounds flat-footed by comparison. Best of all is a top-drawer account of Rachmaninov’s Chopin Variations with some sparkling and colourful playing (Tianxu An has a wonderful pianissimo and leggiero touch – try Var 20). But it is, you feel, ‘the desperate and tragic’ character of Chopin’s theme, setting the tone of the 22 variations, that most appeals to Tianxu An. The spare, enchanting 16th variation (among all the composer’s inspiring melodies surely among the most inspired) is superbly done, as is the descent from the redemptive optimism of the final C major variation to the hushed ending which Tianxu An prefers of the two that Rachmaninov provided. Well recorded. Realistic piano sound. Recommended.