Classic CD: Wilde plays Chopin Vol. III, Alessio Bax plays Scriabin & Mussorgsky

Wilde plays Chopin Vol. III (Delphian).

Alessio Bax plays Scriabin & Mussorgsky (Signum).

David Wilde continues to offer Chopin with attitude on his third collection of the composer's piano music. The mood is set from a dark, searching C minor Nocturne that opens the selection, that almost topples from lento to lentissimo.

It's not difficult to imagine footsteps of doom, alongside muffled roars and the almost cataclysmic rumble of bass.

Wilde settles on mainly familiar fare, happy to identify the Minute Waltz and Military Polonaise by nickname; the most substantial offerings are a fleet-fingered B flat minor Scherzo and a stormy F sharp minor Polonaise. Less well-known are three Ecossaises Chopin wrote after a miserable 1848 visit to the land of the kilt. Wilde's lively programme notes remind us of the composer's wry cri de coeur: "If the climate doesn't kill me, the bagpipes will."

You won't hear drones and chanters here, with Chopin's easy elegance cleverly countered by Wilde's detailed interpretation.

Alessio Bax reveals the music on his new CD of Scriabin and Mussorgsky "describes strong colours, in a passionate and Russian way". The Italian pianist is remarkably persuasive in the steamy, dreamy world of Alexander Scriabin. He understands the composer's sinuous textures; the mix of declamation and poetry in the first movement of the Third Piano Sonata is perfectly gauged.

Putting aside the Russian's more esoteric shorter pieces, he opts for a luscious early C sharp minor Prelude.

The swirling moods and fantasies of Scriabin are worlds away from the crisp, sometimes rough-hewn portraits of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Best of all, this is a version that doesn't have you secretly wishing for Ravel's orchestral decorations. Bax presents a procession of nervy gnomes, sepia-tinted castlescapes and, thanks to immaculate articulation, the bustle of the Tuileries gardens and the Limoges marketplace. When splendour falls on the Great Gate of Kiev, it almost seems massive bells are clanging and ringing from the piano's huge, resonance chords.

After this, Konstantin Chernov's finger-numbing transcription of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bare Mountain is a curiosity and a bonus, brilliantly delivered, with Bax adding some significant tweaks to the arrangement.

Verdict: Two pianists offer enterprising takes on familiar repertoire.

Wilde plays Chopin Vol. III (Delphian)

Alessio Bax plays Scriabin & Mussorgsky (Signum)