For the 42nd issue in its “Romantic Piano Concerto” series, Hyperion turns for inspiration to Norway and, in a first recording of Eyvind Alnæs’s Concerto, they light up the sky like an aurora borealis. Here is music very much for those in love with the most succulent romanticism, with lush, lavishly decorated melodies and a fin de siècle array of props. The opening Allegro moderato follows one sumptuous gesture with another (Tinseltown has been slow off the mark in failing to capitalise on such glamour) and in the central Lento the pianist weaves starry figuration around the orchestra’s full-blooded outcry. In the finale all fashionable gloom is cast aside for a rollicking waltz guaranteed to sweep its dancers (to say nothing of the hard-working pianist) off the floor. So for those wishing to venture beyond the Grieg or MacDowell concertos such music is heaven-sent, particularly when played by Piers Lane with such enviable poetry, fluency and aplomb. Few pianists could have entered into the romantic spirit more infectiously, though even he is hard-pressed to make a convincing case for Sinding’s less heart-warming Concerto. Here, the music remains more effortful than inspired, huffing and puffing its way through one inflated gesture after another. Yet listening to Lane in the sequence commencing at 5'15" in the finale is to be reminded of playing as to the romantic manner born. Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic are a perfect foil for their scintillating and indefatigable soloist, and Hyperion’s sound balance is impeccable.