More and more classically trained pianists are embracing improvisation and composition, including Camille El Bacha, whose solo piano release ‘Lumen’ mixes and matches his own preludes with selected preludes from Chopin’s Op 28 and Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, along with improvised interludes.

It might be facile to say that El Bacha’s improvisations sound composed, while his compositions sound spontaneous and off-the-cuff. What truly matters is this gifted keyboard artist’s vibrant creative spark. Prelude VII, ‘Danse’, features lovely high-register decorative writing that evokes an odd yet compelling fusion of Falla and Szymanowski. Prelude VI, ‘Icare’, passionately teems with long-lined, neo-Rachmaninovian ostinatos. The improvised Quatrième interlude features dulcet sonorites that are sparsely deployed with subtle dynamic gradations. The imaginatively harmonised arpeggiated figurations of the title-track (Prelude V) define gorgeousness.

Indeed, I wish the entire disc had been given over to El Bacha’s compositions and improvisations, because his Chopin and Bach interpretations prove less engaging. He manages the taxing Chopin B flat minor Prelude’s notes better than I could ever hope to, yet he slightly overpedals and never really lets go, while laying heavily on the D minor’s bass lines. The G major’s scurrying left-hand patterns lack airy suppleness, while even the relatively easy E minor comes off ponderously.

Small end-of-phrase hesitations prevent the Bach Book 2 F major Prelude from taking wing but the Book 2 D minor Prelude boasts infectious propulsion, helped by El Bacha’s strong left-hand accents. And the Book 2 C sharp major Prelude features intricate textural interplay that any Bach specialist would be happy to claim. As for the concluding Book 1 C major, one can say no more than that El Bacha plays it musically and, for the lack of a better word, ‘normally’.

My jury is still out regarding El Bacha as an interpreter. El Bacha the composer and improviser, however, is the real thing.