With his Chopin Mazurkas (see page 70) and an earlier Brilliant set of Scriabin sonatas, Dmitri Alexeev marks a return to the studios. He pipped Schiff and Uchida – no less – to the winning post in the 1973 Leeds Piano Competition but has since enjoyed a quiet rather than noisy acclaim. His Scriabin recital of the complete Etudes (including some miscellaneous works designated as such) is a fine addition to the composer’s discography. Alexeev can blaze out into the light when required but his playing is most notable for the way he tempers Scriabin’s frequently wild excesses with dignity and restraint, a refreshing change from other more obvious, fire-eating performances.

There is no lack of adrenalin, of thunder and lightning in the nightmare gallop of the Etude Op 8 No 9 (Alla ballata), yet there is a no less winning gentleness in the central oasis of calm. You may miss something of Horowitz’s mesmerising brio in the explosive double-note flight of Op 8 No 10 (has any pianist been more attuned to Scriabin’s volatility and eroticism?), in the turbulent C sharp minor, Op 42 No 5, or in trills like the maddening hum of a mosquito in No 3. There is also a greater sense of mobility and dexterity in Piers Lane’s Hyperion recording of the Etudes. But there is ample reward in Alexeev’s reserve. He may not ‘emit light and be surrounded in an air of witchcraft’ (a description of Scriabin’s own playing) but his overall musicianship brings its own rewards, and he has been well recorded.