Volume 5 of Eugéne Mursky’s Chopin odyssey takes us to the Four Scherzi and three of his miscellaneous masterpieces. Chopin’s infinitely subtle and intricate language comes easily to very few pianists and Mursky’s dignity and understatement in the Barcarolle, Fantasie and Berceuse take him a long way on an always elusive journey. His Fantasie is clearsighted and musicianly, the opening stealthy march and assuaging reply most sensitively nuanced and phrased, the central B major section a movingly simple oasis of calm. And if he is cruelly tested by Chopin’s demand in the Berceuse for an unfailing poise, his directness and sincerity strike home particularly when backed by a technical mastery as complete as it is unobtrusive. Alas, in the Scherzi, four large-scale showpieces, he takes the sting and audacity out of Chopin. One hardly expects Argerich’s volatility – her live EMI performance (4/99) of the Third Scherzo is like being at the centre of an inferno – or Rubinstein’s early aplomb (Naxos, 6/01) but the first three minor-key works surely merit a sharper degree of character and drama. As on his previous issues, Mursky is finely recorded.