Hideko Udagawa’s second contribution to Northern Flowers’ ‘St Petersburg Musical Archive’ series is a similar compilation of shorter collections and transcriptions as in her first (8/18). Her partner here is the excellent Petr Limonov, replacing Alexander Panfilov, the repertoire a little more wide-ranging stylistically. The focus remains on Russian composers with a love of and knack for engaging, often sentimental melody.

Not all the transcriptions work equally well. I prefer the piano originals of Tchaikovsky’s 1868 Romance and Rachmaninov’s early Elegy; Viktor Mikhailovsky’s arrangements of both receive their first recordings here (he also arranged Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata for Udagawa – Signum, 2009). Mogilevsky’s adaptation of Scriabin’s Nocturne works rather better, as, of course, do Dmitry Tsyganov’s of his friend Shostakovich’s Three Fantastic Dances (1922) and 24 Preludes. Tsyganov did not complete the set (Lera Auerbach did in 2000, recorded by Sergei Dogadin and Nikolai Tokarev – Naxos, 3/18); five that he did arrange feature here. There is character aplenty in the ‘Chanson russe’ from Stravinsky’s one-act opera Mavra (1922) and Kreisler’s sweet arrangement of the Hymn to the Sun from The Golden Cockerel by Stravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov. Jascha Heifetz’s transcriptional hand is heard in Arensky’s fetching Tempo di valse, originally the finale of his 1891 Violin Concerto.

Udagawa’s natural flair for this repertoire is much in evidence and her relatively full tone and light touch are as nicely suited to Arensky as to Stravinsky, although her intonation is a little uncomfortable in Tchaikovsky’s Romance. She does not make as much of the winsome, slightly bland Four Pieces (1898) by Czech-born Eduard Nápravník as Lana Trotovšek does; by contrast the Shostakovich has more bite, though Channel Classics’ sound for Ilya Grubert is brighter. The account of Kabalevsky’s demanding test-piece Rondo (1961) makes a terrific finale, however. Something of a mixed bag, then, but plenty to enjoy.