French pianist David Fray, at 28 years old already acclaimed for an intensive and dazzling career, now makes a Schubert disc of the rarest distinction. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that few pianists have been more acutely sensitive to Schubert’s complex inner world, one where an often pained and world-weary quality is thinly disguised by outward geniality. Crystalline and precise in every detail, Fray leaves an unforgettable impression in the six Moments musicaux. In No 1 he is memorably sensitive to the music’s enigmatic and questioning nature and in Nos 2 and 6 he makes you aware of a world almost too private for public utterance. No 3 can seldom have been given with a finer sense of its gnomic and touching quality, and time and again you are made conscious of music where every note is worth its weight in gold. In the four Impromptus, D899, a similar quality of introspection and concentrated vitality obtains. No 2 is never an opportunity for a mere virtuoso sprint but in Fray’s hands becomes deeply considered and luminous. In No 3 Schubert’s heaven-sent melody seems to float on an air-cushion of sound. Such artistry even rivals that of Radu Lupu, a pianist once aptly described as “a lyricist in a thousand”. Virgin’s sound is immaculate and it can surely only be a matter of time before this consummate young artist gives us the second book of Impromptus and, hopefully, many of the Schubert sonatas.