Boris Berezovsky, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra/ Dmitri Liss Mirare MIR 132****

Last April the notorious volcanic ash cloud prevented Boris Berezovsky travelling to Dublin for a performance of Brahms's Second Piano Concerto with the NSO, and Finghin Collins stepped ably into the breach. If you're wondering what you missed, you can now hear the pianistically muscular Russian's Brahms in a live recording made in Yekaterinburg with the Ural Philharmonic. It's a technically commanding account, excitingly fiery, with Berezovsky showing bear-like reserves of power not just through sheer thrust, but also through some moments of unusual lightness in this exceptionally demanding work. He has the sense of fantasy to stop the second book of the outrageously challenging PaganiniVariations sounding like mere studies. And there are flying fingers, as well, in the three Hungarian Dances. See mirare.fr