At last, a modern recording devoted to Selim Palmgren (1878-1951), a Finnish composer and pianist who has languished in obscurity for too long. Yet, having said that, it is difficult not to sense a composer who, despite much personal charm, strives for a quality that often eludes him. The Sonata, with its outsize heroics and memories of Grieg’s Piano Sonata, is a determinedly virtuoso work by a composer who was essentially a miniaturist (and this despite five sizeable piano concertos – something for Ondine and possibly Hyperion to consider).

The once-popular May Night is an unqualified success, particularly when played by Henri Sigfridsson (a young Finnish pianist I first heard at the 2000 Géza Anda Competition), with an enviable poise and expertise. Of the 24 Preludes, No 8 makes a welcome break from much Norse melancholy and introspection and so do No 12, a turbulent seascape, and No 19, ‘Bird Song’, a prelude once popular with Backhaus and Myra Hess. The final number, too, rouses you from Palmgren’s private dreamworld with a fist-shaking declaration of war while No 9, ‘Cradle Song’, is a close relation to the Refrain de Berceau (unforgettably recorded by Moiseiwitsch). Yet overall, despite exceptions, I found myself longing for music of greater substance and flavour. What is unarguable is the quality of Sigfridsson’s performances, which are uniformly superb. Beautifully recorded, I hope he will go on to give us further recordings from Palmgren’s 300 or so piano works. Bryce Morrison