My introduction to Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) came via the sixth of CPO’s pioneering discs devoted to her music (7/15), featuring some attractive vocal items and her accomplished Piano Concerto. After this seventh volume, it is even more of a mystery how she has been so completely overlooked.

Pejačević’s complete solo piano works fit handily on two well-filled CDs (79'06" and 78'22"). Nataša Veljković wisely mixes the early works with the later ones, opening disc 1 with the eight Blumenleben, Op 19 – assured, high-end salon music – and followed by the three-movements-in-one Sonata (11'48") from 1921, with its more advanced harmonic language. After that Veljković returns to the salon with the Fantasiestücke, Op 17, six brief sketches (highlights of the disc for me), in which Pejačević conveys real depth of emotion with the most economical of means.

As with most intégrales, there are ups and downs. For instance, the nine Walzer Capricen, Op 28 (No 8 is misnumbered in the booklet) are charming enough but betray Pejačević’s weakness as a memorable melodist (essential in this genre). But her Sonata No 1 in B minor, Op 36 (three movements, 24'07", composed in 1915), while saying nothing new, is powerful and passionate; and the Zwei Klavierskizzen, Op 44, and Zwei Intermezzi, Op 38, show how far Pejačević travelled (there are echoes of Korngold and Busoni), especially when set beside – as they are here – 10 of Pejačević’s earliest works concluding with the arresting Trauermarsch, Op 14 (6'31", not the booklet’s 1'34"). These are very brief and indebted to Mendelssohn, Grieg and Chaminade, any one of whose names, had they been attached to these scores, would have guaranteed nods of universal approval.

Veljković plays consistently well with imagination, an impressive variety of touch and tone and a real flair for the idiom. Perhaps not essential listening, but those of a mildly adventurous disposition will find much to enjoy.