I first became acquainted with Florian Noack’s gifts for lyricism and sensitivity through several Lyapunov discs released by ARS Produktion (3/14, 10/16). These qualities reveal themselves in Prokofiev’s second Op 2 Étude, where Noack’s yielding legato touch markedly contrasts with Matti Raekallio’s scintillating détaché articulation. Noack’s navigation of Étude No 3’s daunting double notes is fuller-bodied and heavier in gait next to Raekallio’s brisker, suppler delivery. On the other hand, Noack brings a wide scope of tone colour and characterful contrast to the four pieces encompassing Tales of an Old Grandmother, Op 31. To hear what I mean, sample the third selection, where, at the outset, Noack proudly intones the zig-zagging melody over the staccato left-hand chords, and later infuses each of the rising chromatic phrases midway with its own hue.

Noack’s detailed moderation in the faster, more overtly virtuoso of the Visions fugitives differs from the litheness and transparency of Steven Osborne’s Hyperion versions. No 4, for example, is hardly animato, yet Prokofiev’s imitative writing that jumps from register to register acquires an unprecedented dark humour. Similarly, No 5’s playful giocoso patterns take on a newfound balletic and conversational character. Noack plays the stark No 16 twice as slow as either Osborne or Olli Mustonen, and, in the process, wrings more tension from the dissonant clashes.

Listeners accustomed to Sviatoslav Richter’s steely forthrightness in the first movement of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata may find Noack relatively lightweight. They will change their minds once they zero in on Noack’s subtle modifications of tempo and his ability to make the sweeping passagework and big chordal tuttis resonate with little recourse to the sustain pedal. The Allegretto’s outer sections stand out for Noack’s marvellous woodwind-like articulation of the détaché chords. Both Noack and Richter unfold the Lentissimo third movement with hypnotic breadth, but the waltz rhythm emerges more clearly under Richter. Other pianists create more of a whirlwind in the finale, yet there’s something to be said for the refinement informing Noack’s carefully calibrated voicings: even the glissandos are controlled to a T. If you responded well to Pogorelich’s similar vantage point in this movement, you’ll like Noack. La Dolce Volta’s deluxe sonic and packaging values illustrate why it’s still worthwhile collecting CDs.