As Howard Shelley reaches the fourth instalment of his solo Mendelssohn journey, familiar and unfamiliar once again rub shoulders. He brings out the Bachian elements in the Op 35 Preludes and Fugues – notably the twisting subject of the First Fugue or the agitated Third Fugue – with total naturalness, while the Prestissimo staccato of the Third Prelude is exactly that. The Fugue of the Fifth dances with due clarity, contrasting very effectively with the song-without-words Sixth Prelude.

You’d be forgiven for doing a double-take at the start of the Andante cantabile e Presto agitato, which is a first cousin to the familiar Andante and Rondo capriccioso. Shelley makes a strong case for it, finding particular poignancy in the recollection of the theme’s first three notes as a dying echo at the close, while the Presto is supple and airborne. After that, an A major Lied, a lilting and highly personal piece penned while the composer was on honeymoon.

We’re back on more familiar territory in the Fifth Book of Songs Without Words. In the first Song, Shelley finds a middle ground between the recent Kirschnereit and the faster-flowing Barenboim. To my mind the second is a tad slow in Shelley’s hands – at least compared to the high jinks of Barenboim and the airily wondrous Perahia – though the E minor number that follows is particularly absorbing. The popular ‘Gondolier Song’ of the fifth poses the question: how con moto do you want your Andante to be? Shelley and Perianes tend towards the dreamy – here Kirschnereit’s faster tempo seems more apt. And in the famous ‘Spring Song’ that closes the set, Shelley is finely detailed yet others find an even greater sense of carefree rapture. All in all, though, a fascinating recital, warmly recorded and with absorbing notes from Mendelssohn scholar R Larry Todd.