Peter Jablonski is a formidable pianist, who shows commendable interest in music outside the mainstream, although he has also recorded much Chopin. Early in his career he was a protégée of Vladimir Ashkenazy, with whom he made several recordings for Decca including Prometheus by Scriabin, Lutoslawski’s Paganini Variations, Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto, and the Gershwin Concerto. Lately he has been recording for Ondine, producing amongst others a terrific disc of the solo piano music of Grażyna Bacewicz, and now this fascinating album.

The music of Ronald Stevenson (1928–2015) has, until recently, been the province of specialists. (One is Murray McLachlan, who has recorded a three-disc set of his music, and also his two piano concertos.) A Scottish composer, arranger, pianist, and teacher, Stevenson was a larger-than-life character who was born out of his time. A virtuoso piano arranger of others’ music, like Ferruccio Busoni before him (on whose music he was an expert), Stevenson came along at a time when the gramophone obviated the need for such arrangements. 

Nevertheless, his deep understanding of the piano’s expressive possibilities and his unfettered imagination make his...