Valentina Lisitsa’s emotionally charged and technically accomplished renditions of Chopin, Schumann and Rachmaninov et al have proved to be popular among audiences who access classical music via social media. However, the Ukrainian-born pianist’s decision to explore more recent repertoire by releasing a recording of Michael Nyman’s music last year (7/14) was on the whole less convincing.

This two-disc collection of music by Philip Glass is not without its own idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies but certainly shows off Lisitsa in a more positive light. As with Nyman, she again draws largely from the composer’s film-music back catalogue, and the most impressive moments are heard in her performance of Glass’s suite from The Hours and in pieces recycled from soundtracks that include The Truman Show and The Olympian. In ‘The Poet Acts’ from The Hours, Lisitsa perfectly balances the upper part’s unsettling ebb and flow against a deep and resonant bass-line. ‘Dead Things’ and ‘Tearing Herself Away’, also from The Hours, which open the second disc, are beautifully judged. Glass has rarely been played with as much care shown to the subtle nuances of his minimalist style and aesthetic.

Lisitsa is less convincing, however, when taken out of the relative comfort zone of film cues. The inclusion of Glass’s early, experimental and highly repetitive How Now, 30 minutes long and inexplicably sandwiched between tracks from The Hours, is at best ill-advised: the music reduced to little more than a Czerny-style exercise. Her Metamorphosis cycle lacks the momentum and drive of recent interpretations by Lisa Moore (OMM, 5/15) and Sally Whitwell (ABC, A/14), too, but one cannot deny the inherent musicality that lies at the heart of Lisitsa’s playing. If nothing else, she proves here that Glass’s music can sound stunning when given a more self-consciously Romantic treatment.