Supremely sensitive, fiery, melting, poetic and steely all at once, the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires is an exceptional artist who holds a special place in the hearts of pianophiles the world over. Her quicksilver touch, offset by a generous lyricism, is very much at home in the music of Chopin. Her account of the 24 Préludes, Op. 28 is replete with colour, imaginative characterisation and high emotion. In the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, sympathetically accompanied by André Previn and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, she captures the youthful composer’s impassioned rhetoric and inspired flow of poetry.