Following the five concertos (3/16, 4/19), which amply demonstrated Vadym Kholodenko’s Prokofievian credentials, the still youngish Ukrainian now moves to the solo repertoire. There is much here that confirms his dedication and understanding. But there are some strange choices, too, starting with the instrument – a less than tonally refulgent Fazioli – and followed by the acoustic, which is on the dry, close side. This proves not too harmful for the shorter pieces, which lose little for being placed in such a comparatively analytical setting. But it detracts seriously from the Sixth Sonata, unless you take the rather perverse view that this monument of wartime (or thereabouts) humanist drama should be reduced to a domestic scale.

Which brings me to the other strange feature. Although Prokofiev’s own recordings show that he was freer with nuances of tempo and timing than might be supposed, this applies only to his miniatures. Kholodenko allows himself similar flexibility in the Choses en soi, the Four Pieces, Op 32, and the Visions fugitives – which is absolutely fine, even if the colouristic range at times disappoints (I put that down mainly to the piano). But when he does similar things in the Sonata, he seriously diminishes the epic sweep of the piece. Both outer movements make fatal compromises with the tempo at structural junctures, the Allegretto is a little unsteady on its feet to start with, and the slow movement sacrifices its symphonic scale to spasmodic ‘expressive’ inflections. On a different instrument and in a different acoustic the impression might be different; but then I suspect Kholodenko himself might have played very differently too.