Here is a programme that would rarely (never?) be presented in the concert hall, one specifically tailored to the medium of the compact disc in a way that is itself all too seldom encountered. This is not because the repertoire is comparatively unfamiliar (though that in itself, sadly, would make it unacceptable for many concert promoters) but because it does not fit the conventional structure of a piano recital. Where would you put the interval, even after changing the running order (as I would) and placing the Godowsky later in proceedings?

The disc’s title could equally well be ‘Schubert Variations’, for that is the composer common to all the works here with the exception of Diabelli’s famous waltz theme which opens the programme, followed by Schubert’s own little-known variation upon it. After these two briefest of morceaux comes the longest and by far the most technically demanding work here: Godowsky’s Passacaglia (1927), its 44 fleeting variations, cadenza and fugue based on the opening bars of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, and a challenge for any pianist.

Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi is a new name for me. He is clearly an intense and accomplished musician, to judge by his first-rate essay in the CD’s booklet, which, however, is silent on every aspect of his biography (the internet reveals little). He is also an exceptionally fine pianist, to judge from his handling of Godowsky’s labyrinthine textures; and if he is not quite the equal of Marc-André Hamelin in his two recordings – no one has yet matched the Canadian’s extraordinary combination of power, lucidity, grasp of detail and pianistic finesse – he is a worthy champion of this weighty work.

Few of the remaining 32 tracks last longer than two minutes: Czerny’s four variations on a Schubert waltz (1820) utterly belie his reputation as a mere purveyor of studies; Schubert’s own 10 variations written when he was 18 are not often heard and offer, writes Bianchi, ‘an interesting compendium of [his] piano style’; Tausig’s solo version of Schubert’s Andantino varié is another work we should hear more. Bianchi follows this with the much-loved B flat major Impromptu (a theme with five variations) and finishes with the astringent, if tonal, five variations written in 1956 on a theme from Schubert’s waltz in C sharp minor, D643, by the German composer Helmut Lachenmann.

Has the piano been captured a bit too far distant from the back of an empty hall? For my taste, yes, but all in all, this is a most satisfying disc both musically and pianistically.