Much thought and care have gone into devising this musical love letter to Vienna from Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson. His skills as a chamber music partner to some of today’s leading soloists have already been warmly received. Here, and ‘under the twin shadows of the Covid 19 pandemic and Brexit’, as he puts it in his contribution to the booklet note, he seeks escapism and inspiration in all things Wienerisch: from Schumann’s effervescent fireworks to Ravel’s subtle seductions and Schoenberg’s enigmatic aphorisms.

But it is surely Korngold’s Third Sonata that is the raison d’être and heart of the programme. Completed in 1931, this is a work of considerable maturity and imagination. With its roots firmly in Romantic and symphonic traditions, it is at once highly theatrical and rhapsodic, requiring a wide range of character from the interpreter: flair and flamboyance in the outer movements, dark Lisztian meditation in the Andante religioso and an abundance of charm in the delightful Minuet. Beatson offers a committed and responsive account, albeit one not conspicuous for its drama or colour. Elsewhere, too, his interpretations are no match for his intelligent programming. His Schumann is over-accentuated to the point of tiresomeness; his Ravel at times gasps for air; and his Schoenberg is in need of some splashes of paint to bring it to life. All this is hardly helped by a confined acoustic and dry, shallow piano sound. Signing off the recital with Richard Strauss’s technicolour transcription of Schubert’s charming little Kupelwieser Waltz is nevertheless a happy reminder of Beatson’s strong programming initiative.