Korean pianist Sonya Bach takes Rachmaninov more by subtlety than by storm. This pays many dividends. She makes the Second Sonata a thing of beauty, both in its details and in its overall proportions, finding nobility and sensitivity where many others are seduced by the temptations of superficial effect. Her pianism is as polished as it is poised. Those who crave greater extremes may nevertheless find themselves under-ravished in the poetic sections and under-ravaged in the dramatic ones. For myself, I admired the first movement in particular, even though its agitato is somewhat underplayed. But I was concerned that the slow movement let the fires burn so low, and for all its admirable clarity the finale ultimately delivers less than it promises.

So it is with the selection of three Preludes. The famous G minor Alla marcia goes well enough until an excessively yielding central section loses the structural thread, while the E flat Andante is so relaxed that it misses the essential sense of longing, for me at least. Bach certainly has a good feeling for the idiom of the six Moments musicaux, as might be expected of an erstwhile pupil of Lazar Berman (himself one of the finest interpreters of these arguably rather overblown miniatures). To invoke that comparison is to realise a clear difference in artistic stature. Still, there is much to enjoy here, and the recorded piano sound is fine throughout.