Avie’s two-CD album celebrates a richly inclusive cross-section ranging from Schumann’s Opp 2 to 82, from early ardour to later introspection, and vice-versa. For, whatever the opus, Schumann’s ultra-Romantic genius – his rapid shifts from pain to solace, from tears to laughter – is paramount. Above all, it is in Schumann’s wide-eyed wonder, his naivety, in the most complimentary sense of the term, that 30-year-old, prize-winning Leon McCawley shines and makes his mark.

True, a certain politeness inhibits him from relishing to the full every shift of the kaleidoscopic imagination in, say, Papillons (where Schumann remembers ‘an aurora borealis sky’ to say nothing of a ‘giant boot sliding around dressed as itself’), but elsewhere – in the closing, enchanted reminiscence of Davidsbündlertänze or in the ‘exquisite bird song in an ominous setting’ (the ‘Prophet Bird’ from Op 82) – he is at his very best. In the Fantasiestücke, he delights in the cross-accentuation, kittenish by-play of ‘Fabel’ while providing an attractive alternative to other more hectic performances of ‘Träumes Wirren’.

His Arabesque is another notable success (never more so than in the glowing retrospective coda). Most of all, he is finely sensitive to the inner promptings and recesses of Kreisleriana: the sehr langsam and Bewegt of No 4, the central mock-polyphonic whirl of No 7 or the alternately gentle and explosive whimsy of No 8 (quite without undue pointing or emphasis) all testify to his winning ease and sensitivity. Excellent recording, first-class accompanying essay and lavish presentation.