Although Arthur Vincent Lourié was a key figure among Russian composers involved in the Futurist movement, his earlier works often reflect late Russian Romanticism, with Debussy and Ravel gradually asserting themselves alongside the composer’s own voice. Yet throughout Lourié’s stylistic evolution, his piano-writing falls idiomatically and comfortably under the fingers. Small wonder that more pianists are attracted to Lourié these days, including Christian Erny. His colouristic gifts especially shine in the five Préludes fragiles, Op 1. To be sure, his unusually protracted opening Lento pacifies the built in agitation of the left-hand accompaniment’s myriad tuplets but he seduces the ear with alluring textural distinctions between the second prelude’s undulating right-hand figurations and gently declamatory left-hand melodies. In contrast to Giorgio Koukl’s flaccid dispatch of the brief No 4 (Grand Piano), Erny’s more decisive grasp of the notes conveys animation and urgency.

Erny brings out the Valse’s deadpan quirkiness by almost throwing away the booming bass notes and dissonant jabs. In ‘Crepuscule d’un faune’, the first of the two Estampes, Erny’s resolutely steady pulse and subtle tonal inflections positively hypnotise in the obsessive syncopated ostinatos. The pianist begins the Intermezzo slowly, as if he was tentatively easing into Lourié’s narrative, and wends his way towards a driving yet controlled central climax. Perhaps the Gigue’s premonitions of boogie-woogie and funk ‘swing’ more convincingly via Moritz Ernst’s faster tempo (indeed, his complete Lourié cycle – Capriccio, 1/17 – belongs in any wide-ranging piano collection), but the cumulative impact of Erny’s heavier-gaited accents and wider dynamic range equally won me over. Similarly, Erny’s muted deliberation at the Nocturne’s outset creates a harrowing aura from which his leisurely disquiet interpretation unfolds. It’s utterly different from and arguably deeper than Koukl’s brisker, gaunter, more compact rendition. The superb surround-sound production makes Erny’s intelligently refined artistry all the more enticing. A beautiful disc.