Antti Siirala has been a serial entrant of piano competitions. He wins most of them, including the Beethoven, London, Dublin and Leeds (2003) events. So he knows how to play for a jury. His first recording after the London competition (Naxos, 8/03), however, belied such cynicism: an imaginative disc of Schubert transcriptions which included a competitive (this time in the sense of ‘vying for best available’) version of Godowsky’s fearsome Passacaglia.

Which is a long way round of saying Siirala is a great deal more than a jury pleaser. This is a strikingly good disc, notable at once for the full-bodied, golden tone of the piano (superbly recorded) and Siirala’s ability to hold both long movements and large structures together with playing of refined musicality. After the first two pages of the Sonata other mighty F minors spring to mind – Katchen, Solomon, of course, Grainger and Bauer from an even earlier era. After the leonine first movement comes the long nocturnal narrative of the second. To hear Siirala at his most expressive, try the final section (andante molto) from 9'02", sensitive to every nuance, deeply felt and aching with regret. He characterises the rumbustious Scherzo and its chorale-like Trio equally well, and builds to the impassioned climax of the finale with abandon.

If another composer and texture would have come as a welcome contrast after these 42 intense minutes, that preference is tempered by the colour and imagination Siirala brings to the Op 39 Waltzes. He makes subtle use of all the repeats, and the sighing falls of No 12 (E major) are beautifully done, though I did not care for almost all the left hand of the famous A flat waltz (No 15) to be played staccato (only the first four bars and six towards the end are so marked). It’s a detail, to be sure, an aspect of the music to which Siirala, otherwise, pays admirable attention.