Dominant in St Petersburg musical life in the first years of the nineteenth century was the haunting figure of John Field, and it is he who also dominates this selection. Tverskaya plays a selection of the famous Nocturnes charmingly, and the use of a modern version of a Brodmann fortepiano gives the textures a particular airiness and lucidity. Accounts of Field at the piano agree on the “limpidity” or “clarity” of his playing – even Liszt, who thought his playing “sleepy”, agreed – and there is a delightful sparkle here in the famous Twelve O’Clock as well as a delicacy of texture that suits the music well in the Nocturnes. Not even Glinka can approach these beautiful pieces, though he makes quite a good shot at imitating his master’s voice in the Adagio of his set of variations. Tverskaya brings this off well, and makes out a good case for what is an uneven piece: the Introduction is really the kind of ‘preluding’ in which many nineteenth-century pianists indulged before getting down to business, but that is no reason for preserving it for posterity. Two other excellent Nocturnes come from the Ukrainian Lizogub. A more individual talent, however, is that of Ivan Laskovsky, another Field pupil with a vein of melancholy that distinguishes the fine F minor Impromptu and a touching Song without words. His admiration for Chopin shows in these pieces, which are well worth revival. Hassler’s rather strenuous Grande Gigue sticks out from the other works a little, but this is an attractive and well-chosen recital.'