Vestard Shimkus (piano) Naxos 8.572516***

Latvian pianist Vestard Shimkus took the top prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition of Barcelona in 2009, and this Naxos recording, made in December 2009, came as part of his prize. He's heard in a dozen sonatas by Antonio Soler (1729-1783), a Spanish priest who studied with the great composer Domenico Scarlatti, to whom his style is clearly indebted. There's a distinctive flavour to some of Soler's strumming effects, imitative of the guitar, and you'll find him indulging in the kind of wide leaps that bring a thrill to Scarlatti as well. Shimkus's approach is tonally sophisticated in a polarised kind of way, as if he's filtered each work into one of two categories, dreamy or brilliant. The colouristic allure of his playing is genuinely appealing and his busy fingerwork is fine. But there's often a kind of rhythmic cushioning that limits the sense of grip on the music. url.ie/af60