Apekisheva strolls round the Exhibition with Mussorgsky’s original score in her hand. So, for example, ‘Bydlo’ starts ff – authentic, but more effective to my mind for the oxcart to start in the distance, thunder by and fade away. Most recent visitors, among them Leif Ove Andsnes and Sergio Tiempo, opt for this while still observing, as does Apekisheva, Mussorgsky’s two final B flats at the end of ‘Goldenberg and Schmuÿle’ (older pianists such as Moiseiwitsch go with Rimsky-Korsakov and give us a C natural and a B flat). Apekisheva, unlike Andsnes and Tiempo, gives us all the ‘Promenades’. Whether she characterises every single tone-portrait with quite the same personality and simple pianistic verve as them is a moot point. Her ‘Catacombs’ is surely too ponderous. That aside, the whole performance has a sweep and structure that is utterly compelling.

The 24 Shostakovich Preludes, arranged in the same cycle of fifths as Chopin’s Op 28, follow – and they make surprisingly apt companions. I like Malcolm MacDonald’s booklet suggestion that in one sense they resemble ‘a picture gallery of caricatures or small Cubist paintings’. None lasts longer than three minutes (many less than 60 seconds). Apekisheva handles all their lyrical, parodic and virtuoso (try No 5) aspects with sensitivity and aplomb by turns.

The Onyx label under Matthew Cosgrove is quietly assembling a stable of very talented young pianists. Jeremy Nicholas