Though born in Paris, Jean-Paul Gasparian identifies as ethnically Armenian. He will be 29 this year and has already amassed an impressive discography. His first recording for Naïve, released last year, was devoted to Debussy: the first book of Préludes, Estampes and the ‘Rondes de printemps’ from the Images for orchestra, transcribed by his father (6/23). Previous recordings on the Evidence Classics label have included a Chopin disc, works by Prokofiev and Scriabin, as well as Rachmaninov’s Études-tableaux, Moments musicaux, Second Sonata (5/22) and C minor Concerto. Gasparian is a pianist of significant finesse and flawless technique. He’s also a musician of enormous imagination. This new Naïve release, his sixth recording, consists of music by Armenian composers.

Arno Babadjanian (1921 83), whose piano music is resourceful and highly idiomatic, dominates the programme. His swirling Vagharshapat Dance from 1943 is intoxicatingly exhilarating, showcasing Gasparian’s kinaesthetic expertise, which in fact pervades the disc. The Impromptu from the following year is insouciant as though improvised. The Capriccio (1952) previews Gasparian’s extraordinary ability to explicate polyphonic complexity, a talent on full display in the three-movement Polyphonic Sonata. The second movement of this piece is a highly rhetorical fugue lasting a little over six minutes and its finale a bracing and fiendishly difficult toccata, all played with dash and élan. The Elegy from 1978 was composed in memory of Aram Khachaturian. Gasparian’s poignant rendering of the highly ornamented melodic line is deeply affecting.

The next two works are by the pianist’s father, Gérard Gasparian (b1960). The younger Gasparian negotiates the changing moods of the Ballade with aplomb, while the more sustained and harmonically venturesome Poème is atmospherically captured. A pair of Khachaturian pieces, the well-known Toccata and an excerpt from the ballet Spartacus, inspire kaleidoscopic colours and infinitely calibrated rhythms from Gasparian’s Steinway. A profound sense of repose permeates the pas de deux. Four dances by Komitas (1869-1935), the composer whom Khachaturian called his greatest teacher, conclude the disc.

This release offers the opportunity of hearing a great deal of unfamiliar yet interesting music played by a pianist whose manifold gifts are at once breathtaking and sheer listening joy.