The third volume of Barry Douglas’s ‘Tchaikovsky Plus One’ series matches its predecessors (12/18, 12/19) for inspired programming and noble musicianship alike.

Many pianists sectionalise Dumka by milking the lyrical parts and whipping up the virtuoso repeated sequences. However, Douglas’s moderation allows for more dynamic and expressive variety in the long run; by not pressing forwards when the giocoso motif occurs (bar 64), the brillante leaps eight bars later convey more scintillation and sense of surprise. Douglas pursues a straightforward trajectory in making the big Op 51 No 5 Romance’s expressive points and carefully builds the climaxes. Dancers wishing to choreograph the ‘Danse caractéristique’ and ‘Polka peu dansante’ will find Douglas’s lilting tempos ideal. By contrast, the bar lines float freely on account of Douglas’s subtle rubato in the ‘Valse sentimentale’. And his deft balancing of the scurrying détaché chords in ‘Scène dansante’ conveys a vibrant impact.

The colour, character and rhythmic focus that Douglas divines from the Romeo and Juliet pieces leads me to believe that this pianist has thoroughly absorbed and digested Prokofiev’s original orchestral scoring, not to mention its balletic origins. Sample the Folk Dance’s finely honed timbral distinctions between registers, the elegantly handled dynamic gradations in the Minuet or the processional flow in ‘Montagues and Capulets’ and you’ll hear what I mean. Douglas does not play ‘The Young Juliet’ at a tempo beyond a dancer’s capabilities, and he shapes the dissonances of ‘Masks’ without a trace of percussive harshness. The breadth and intensity that Douglas brings to the finale impart a strong and sustained sense of tragic summation. One of the finest recordings Barry Douglas has made: don’t miss it.