Canto Oscuro ECM New Series****

The tour-de-force here is Sofia Gubaidulina's 1961 Chaconne, a granitic, angular piece that often sounds like an ideologically forced political statement in performance. Anna Gourari makes it sound personal and persuasive in spite of its daunting manner. And she blends the raspberry- blowing arrogance and modernistically neo-baroque elements of Hindemith's 1922 Suite with skill as well. Her chosen contrasts with these works are extreme – arrangements of Bach by Busoni (including the Chaconne in D minor) and Siloti, where she shows herself at times a little precipitous. She may be less composed in handling the calm purpose of Bach than the impetuosity of his 20th-century successors. Yet the programme makes for a thought-provoking whole. See url.ie/7ebo