Ieva Jokubaviciute’s first album was a tribute to Alban Berg. Here, she focuses on the Nordic and Baltic states, with pieces from Norway (Lasse Thoresen), Denmark (Bent Sørensen – the documentation omits the accented ‘ø’ in his name), Finland (Saariaho), Latvia (Vasks) and Lithuania (Raminta Šerkšnytė). It is a fascinating, well-balanced programme, played with engrossingly undemonstrative virtuosity, whether in the three Mignon nocturnes, a delightful subset from Sørensen’s set of 12 (2000 14), or the freewheeling canvas of Šerkšnytė's youthful Fantasia (1997), completed before her 23rd birthday. Saariaho’s Prelude (2007), cleverly placed at the centre of the programme, explores the sonic potential of the keyboard, taken in a more extreme textural direction in Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Scape (2011), with the piano prepared in Cageian fashion to produce completely different tonal colours.

Lasse Thoresen’s Four Invocations (2011 20) between them cover the four medieval elements (Light – for fire – Air, Water, Earth) alongside ‘four parallel dimensions of human reality: pure consciousness, spirit, soul and body’. Thoresen has commented that the four works collectively ‘describe metaphorically the process of creation’, each marking a stage along the way. His scores allow the pianist some latitude in performance but the essentials will always shine through. Jokubaviciute bookends her programme with the first two, ‘of Pristine Light’ and ‘of Rising Air’: robustly ethereal studies, the one with occasional allusions to Ravel, the other to Stravinsky, but always manifestly Thoresen. Although the fourth Invocation (2020) could not have been included (it is longer than Nos 1 3 combined), it is a pity the third (‘of Crystal Waters’) was omitted, as there is room.

Jokubaviciute navigates the contrasting demands of each work with hugely impressive skill and Sono Luminus’s sound is superb. This is an enthralling programme from the northern world that no listener wary of contemporary music need be fearful of (Vasks’s nostalgically evocative score, for instance), though demands are sometimes made of their ears. Recommended.