The Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman is a white-haired eminence in international piano circles these days, but the last time he released a recording of music by his fellow countryman Karol Szymanowski, it was as a beardless youth in 1981. That famous DG record contained Mythes Op. 30 and a couple of short pieces, all for violin and piano, in which Zimerman accompanied a young Polish violinist Kaja Danczowska. Now he brings us a cross-section of early and late Szymanowski piano music, and the wait has been well worth it.

Zimerman’s recital is bookended by early works. Four of Szymanowski’s Preludes, Op. 1 include two (Nos 7 and 8) which may have been composed at the age of 14. The influence of Chopin is not unexpected, but there is also a hint of Scriabin in the chromatic harmony that weaves through these pieces. Zimerman immediately identifies a contemplative strain in the music, which is never far away even in the composer’s most technically demanding writing. The pearly tones Zimerman produces in Prelude No 7 are exquisite, while the tenderness he finds in Nos 1...