Since Alexander Krichel’s remarkable 2011 debut recording, with its compelling Liszt B minor Ballade and selections from the second Année (Telos/Profil), the Hamburg native has calmly pursued his own path. There was his orchestral debut, coupling less familiar Chopin and Hummel with Mozart’s K414 (Sony, 4/15); a stylish disc of Ravel (5/17); a Rachmaninov Second Concerto plus solo pieces; and works of Schumann, Hensel, Mendelssohn, and Weber alongside Schubert-Liszt. His new Sony release, captured in astonishingly luxurious, lifelike sound, is an even more disparate potpourri, original and thoughtful as ever.

Individual tastes in Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes vary widely (my personal favourite is Grainger’s 1928 recording), but Krichel’s dreamy account is sure to win adherents. He invests considerable affective portent in the posthumous variations, placing them as a sequence between Variations 6 and 7, so that momentum builds towards the finale.

Rachmaninov’s overstuffed transcriptions of his friend Fritz Kreisler’s Liebesleid and Liebesfreud threaten to swamp the charming originals. Undaunted, Krichel plays them for all their worth, savouring their fragrance and lilt. The change of milieu from the Russian-inflected Viennese ballroom to the exalted realms of the Liebestod at first seems abrupt. But Krichel brings such earnestness and wonder to the rapture of Wagner’s heroine that we can’t help but succumb to his absorption.

If I were to have a reservation, it would surround An die ferne Geliebte, where Krichel may be overly self-effacing. A more vivid characterisation might enhance the overall effect without damage to the original. But that is but a quibble beside these imaginative performances on a beautifully realised and pleasurable recording.