Following hard on the heels of his much-praised concerto debut for Nimbus (see review in March 1995 Gramophone), Mark Anderson continues with no less an impressive recital disc. Brahms is once again his favoured composer and it is easy to see why, for here is playing aglow with warmth and sincerity, a far cry from the glib, impersonal expertise of many other winners of glittering prizes. The opening is magnificently forthright and imperious (Clara Schumann's young eagle truly spreading his wings) and, whether in ardent rhetoric or cloudy introspection, Anderson is stylish and assured...such essential gravitas.

Liszt's Dante Sonata is, if anything, an even greater success. The absence of all obvious display and the concentration on purely musical values are deeply impressive. From Anderson, Liszt's fulminating response to Dante Emerges in all its first glory and the performance is quite without the fustian and bombast that so often seem inseparable from this piece. The Schumann Toccata is, again, notable for sensitive as well as athletic virtues, its bustling and headlong flight poetically and brilliantly realized.

Even in a market place crowded with celebrities (Ax, Perahia, Curzon, Katchen, Lupu and with Geza Anda - an arch-sophisticate in Brahms as in everything else - still to come on Testament) Anderson's Brahms has a special validity and authority, while his Liszt and Schumann are among the finest available. The recordings made in Nimbus' splendid new concert-hall, are a far cry from their earlier efforts. Hopefully this is the first of many recital discs to come from this exceptionally serious young virtuoso.