The second instalment of Melnikov’s Prokofiev sonatas covers a kaleidoscope of temperaments...For all its vacillations, something in Melnikov’s choice of colours conveys an overall feeling of austerity and looming danger that is not quite like anyone else’s vision...Few pianists have come this close to Richter in making such a strong case for [Nos. 4 & 9].

Intent on modifying the composer’s sardonic nature, he gives us Prokofiev with a human face, less armed with a porcupine’s quills and spines. You won’t hear Richter’s remorseless drive in the Fourth Sonata’s finale, with its strained gaiety and abandon, and you miss the dark and heavy tread in the Andante assai. Greater success comes in the Ninth Sonata. (by its whimsy and caprice), Melnikov is deft in the abrupt scales of the Allegro strepitoso and sinks gratefully into temporary repose in the Andante tranquillo.

Melnikov’s playing, always deeply thoughtful, is marked by its clarity, the faster movements never overfrantic and No 7’s lugubrious middle movement given with the loveliest singing tone.

Listeners should prepare for some extreme volatility. It’s all justified: in swinging so vividly between brutal scampering and the lyrical, Melnikov is only reflecting the emotional turmoil of the works… Melnikov is equally strong on structural control and clarity of line and texture, qualities necessary for any successful performances of the mercurial Fourth and the equivocal Ninth.