Subtlety is the pervasive quality that pianist Aki Takahashi conveys so luminously on this disc of works by Peter Garland. The music often doesn’t raise its voice much above a whisper, and even when it does, the narratives are skilfully crafted to maintain a certain expressive decorum. Garland alters harmonies and structural elements with impressive restraint, heading in directions that surprise and captivate the ear.

Most of the movements in the Garland pieces presented here have a programmatic basis, though it isn’t always necessary to know the storyline to appreciate the result. The four movements of The Birthday Party unfold in a series of ethereal gestures, with a droll stop along the way to waltz in salute to Erik Satie. Garland adopted the name of a Navajo ceremony for Blessingway, whose two movements – ‘night song’ and ‘day song’ – are built principally of chords that emerge in a panoply of colours and harmonic implications.

The sonic palette is stretched in telling ways in Amulet, originally composed for four pianos but played on this disc – through the magic of layered recording – by Takahashi. Taking inspiration from the last word in a novel by the Chilean-Mexican author Roberto Bolaño, the seven movements evoke a variety of moods and emotions. Two of the movements are marches; two others celebrate important figures in Garland’s life.

In all of these works, Takahashi performs with consummate artistry, blending superior control and tonal lucidity with a cohesive sense of line and motion. Garland’s music could hardly be better served.