I am not what one might regard as musically literate but I have a wide taste in classical music and am always discovering something new and often exciting. So it is with some hesitation that I write to share with you my experience of a CD entitled Souvenirs d’Enfance – Musique Russe played by Brigitte Engerer which my wife gave me as a gift on her return from a trip to France earlier this year. The disc contains some 38 pieces for piano by various composers including Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Liadov, Glinka, Alabiev, Shostakovich, Rubinstein, Rachmaninov and Scriabin. “Memories of Childhood” is indeed a collection of pieces which evokes a desire for quiet reflection and contemplation on anything or nothing in particular – but always with the sweetness, delicacy and purity of Ms Engerer’s exquisite playing, helped a little perhaps by the acoustics of the Abbaye Royale de Fontrevaud, where this recital was recorded, drifting through one’s head

B Moore