A decade after the start of his Chopin series, for its sixth volume Louis Lortie offers another carefully arranged bouquet, this time dominated by the gentle fragrance of mazurkas. Four groups of these, mostly characteristically intimate (though by no means timidly performed) are interspersed with some of Chopin’s most extrovert works. Among the latter, pride of place is given to the young composer’s homage to Mozart in his Op 2 Variations on ‘Là ci darem la mano’ from Don Giovanni, one of his most dauntingly show-off pieces. Taking the virtuosity in his stride, Lortie infuses each variation with abundant youthful energy and excitement, finding charm amid the dazzle, glitter and extravagance.

Next come the Op 67 posthumously published Mazurkas, before more fireworks with the ‘Military’ Polonaise, where Lortie seems surprisingly, even off-puttingly cautious. This cannot be for lack of technique, so maybe it’s an attempt to place the music higher than audacious display. If so, the aim misfires, sounding merely self-conscious. Ashkenazy’s straightforwardness (Decca, 2/97) fits the bill here. Similarly, in the F minor Fantaisie, I wish Lortie would let the excitement take wing in the climaxes and especially in the passages of contrary-motion parallel octaves along the way. His restraint here sounds oddly Brahmsian. Yevgeny Sudbin is closer to the mark (BIS, 1/12).

When it comes to the mazurkas, Rubinstein’s ultimate version (Naxos) remains unbeatable for its direct access to the heart of these works. Ashkenazy’s set is an alternative and almost diametrically opposite reference-point. If Rubinstein’s mazurkas are brief images of a bygone past, glanced at while a matchstick flare flickers out, Ashkenazy (Decca, 11/84) lights each one with a floodlight – yet how exciting and sensitive he sounds even so. Lortie’s mazurkas fall somewhere between the two: strongly individual and with a penchant for exploring the mini-drama that each one encapsulates. Take Op 67 No 4, for example; compared to Ashkenazy, Lortie almost disregards its dance quality, instead acting as a confidant who as it were consoles the storyteller: weeping, smiling at the nostalgic memories and ultimately joining in a mood of resignation.

When required, Lortie is not too shy to bring out the snappy rhythms and their capricious volatility. However, in the case of the Op 6 Mazurkas, the earliest set, I do feel his over-thinking and over-planning of each phrase gets in the way of spontaneity, labouring his point rather than merely making it. Still, on balance this disc is distinguished by the humanistic, selfless music-making, devoid of sentimentality, for which Lortie’s Chopin has justly been praised.