In his early twenties, Francisco Mignone (1897-1986) left his native Brazil to study in Milan. He spent nearly a decade in Italy and also Spain, and listening to his orchestral music – his Festa das igrejas (1940), say, or Maracatu de Chico Rei (1933) – one is tempted to label him a Brazilian Respighi. His piano music remains closer to home, however, hewing closer to the folkloric style of his younger Argentinian contemporaries Guastavino (whose complete piano music Martin Jones recorded in 2008) and Ginastera.

Jones focuses on Mignone’s works from the 1930s and ’40s, generally avoiding the more modernist- or Impressionist-influenced pieces like the Transcendental études that Clélia Iruzun includes on her Mignone recital (Lorelt, 11/07). Indeed, there’s not much overlap between the two programmes. In general, Jones tends to avoid flashy pieces such as the Dança do Botocudo Iruzun offers, and when Jones and Iruzun do play the same music, the interpretative distinctions are clear. Reviewing Iruzun’s disc, Guy Rickards praised her lightness of touch as being ‘near ideal’, and he’s not wrong. Jones’s touch is lighter still, his tempos more relaxed, the result as charming as it is elegant.

Jones includes a few salon-like pieces, including the Valse élégante and Nazarethesque Tango (both from 1931), three of the 10 gorgeously melancholy Lendas sertanejas (‘Rustic Legends’), the first and last of the spare, lilting Valsas de esquina (‘Street Corner Waltzes’) and the four sonatinas. Paulistana (a miniature portrait of the people of São Paulo from 1942) is the longest work on the programme, and in the bright, bustling energy of its outer sections, it’s perhaps the most assertive music, too. Yet it’s the hushed central section that makes the strongest impression, especially as Jones’s pearlescent pianissimo casts such a heady spell (listen starting around 2'54").

As usual, Nimbus’s aural perspective puts quite a lot of air around Jones’s piano, which is highly effective in this case where the emphasis is on atmosphere rather than brilliance. Warmly recommended.