Denis Matsuev (b1975, Irkutsk, Siberia) won the 1998 Tchaikovsky Competition. His brief ‘Tribute to Horowitz’ disc (2003) made a strong impression, even if depth and poetry were sometimes sacrificed at the expense of speed and bedazzlement. This follow-up, though a curiously unsatisfying pairing, confirms him as a major talent. From the opening bars of the Petrushka ‘Danse russe’ you know you are in safe hands, Matsuev’s well oiled mechanism enabling him to gloss over any difficulty – so fluent, in fact, that at times there are the merest hints of complacency. More tonally refined than Kissin (RCA, 2/06) and equally compelling in its own way, far better recorded than Weissenberg’s classic account (EMI, 9/04), Matsuev’s Petrushka can hold its own with the best.

I was even more taken by his Tchaikovsky. Here, at last, Matsuev reveals himself to be a true poet of the piano. By the Fireside (January) and especially Barcarole (June) and Autumn Song (October) are ineffably touching, played with a quiet introspection and sensitive rubato that melt the heart. In the more exuberant numbers, Matsuev does not resort to excessive dynamics or supercharged virtuosity, thereby cleverly retaining their character as part of the cycle of piano miniatures. My one reservation about the whole disc is the microphone placement which (to my ears) has the effect of distancing the listener, resulting in a certain lack of immediacy and engagement.