Palestinian classical composition remains a largely unknown quantity, even though numerous practitioners were based at least partially in the West. The present disc surveys seven decades of piano music, in the process confirming stylistic diversity as by no means a European preserve.

Salvador Arnita harnesses rhetoric and exuberance in his piece (1942), its lively folk inflection in pointed contrast to the stark chordal repetitions and fragmented non-piano sounds of Samir Odeh-Tamini’s elegy (2006). Integration of form with expression is evident throughout Amin Nasser’s Fifth Sonata (2002), an ambivalent Allegro finding its natural corollary in the limpid eddying of its Largo, then the anxious figuration of its Moderato. Mounir Anastas contributes an étude (2001) of mounting disjunction, and Habib Hassan Touma stands audibly in the lineage of Bartók and Prokofiev in his Arabic Suite (1960), its finale evincing a more personal manner pursued with the textural diversity of Taqsim (1966). Patrick Lama’s set of variations (1983) is arguably the highlight here in its technical finesse allied to a pianism of telling subtlety and unaffected poise, whereas Wisam Gibran’s set of four pieces (2009) is the most arresting in its stratified layers of sound which merge into a cohesive and cumulative sequence as if by force of will. Nasri Fernando Dueri’s atmospheric miniature (1952) makes for an evocative ending.

All credit to Fedi Deeb for having created so fascinating and astutely balanced a programme and for performing it with demonstrable commitment. Comprehensive booklet notes and numerous illustrations add further to the excellence of an enterprise well worth investigating.