Enter the world of mysterious pianistic colour. Steven Osborne has been working away recently at the ambient music of Morton Feldman and George Crumb, some of it appearing in his live recitals, but here on disc is something to take time over, to listen to again and again. At the heart of the recording is Crumb’s A Little Suite for Christmas. Inspired by Giotto’s 14th century frescoes for a Padua chapel, these short pieces range in style from quasi-Debussy and the opening Messiaen-Like bell chords, to Crumb’s own original exploration of piano timbre—the magical lute-like strumming of the strings in Canticle of the Night, or the near-hypnotic charm of the Adoration of the Magi. The longest track is the last—Feldman’s Palais de Mari, typically soft, muted, timeless, and in Osborne’s tasteful interpretation, mesmerisingly sublime. A triumph of the extraordinary.