Edward MacDowell’s naivety and generosity of spirit may strike an alien note in our more cynical and brittle age, yet his music, with its affectionate memories of Grieg and Schumann in particular, is often suffused with a touchingly personal voice. A resolute conservative, his romantic escapism hardly made for an innovative style and his early success led only to a cul-de-sac of depression brought on by academic wrangles and the neglect of his music by those wedded to a more progressive idiom. The harsh realities of contemporary life proved too much for a composer devoted to ‘old, unhappy, far-off things / And battles long ago’, and MacDowell died tragically at the age of 46.

Such music requires a specially committed pianist and it would be difficult to imagine a more glowing or ardent champion than Sandra Carlock. All her readings are of a natural, unforced authority and, if the working-out of her prime offering, the Eroica Sonata, can at times seem ponderous and protracted, that is hardly the fault of such a stylish and assured pianist. A complete cycle of McDowell’s piano music including the concertos would be more than welcome (though Van Cliburn’s recording of the Second Concerto on RCA is a hard act to follow). Somm’s sound admirably captures the warmth and fullness of Carlock’s sonority.