“Who is not at heart a globetrotter?” asked the Lithuanian-born US piano virtuoso and composer Leopold Godowsky in the foreword to his Java Suite, published in 1925 and inspired by what he had heard and seen on a lengthy concert tour of south-east Asia. He intended this 50-minute travelogue to be the first of a series entitled Phonoramas – Tonal Journeys for the Pianoforte, and it’s shame he never got round to writing the others. It’s a fantastically demanding work and an impressive vehicle for the young Indonesian pianist Jonathan Kuo on this, his debut solo recording.

Kuo is an appealingly unflashy soloist, capturing the contradictions of a work that has Lisztian scope and yet somehow remains introspective, with a Debussian feeling for sonority. He takes a wide view, shaping the music into long, sweeping phrases, reinforcing the bass notes imperceptibly even while so much is happening higher up the keyboard. The first movement is inspired by the clangorous sounds and pentatonic harmonies of the gamelan; thereafter the episodes paint pictures of a moonlit Buddhist temple, perfumed botanic gardens, chattering monkeys and a surprisingly elegant puppet show. A bustling streetscape sends the music whirling irresistibly, and a portrayal of sunrise over the Mount Bromo volcano brings an exuberant emotional high point halfway through.

Kuo pairs the Suite with the Three Movements from Petrushka that Stravinsky arranged for Rubinstein – a pianist who professed himself jealous of Godowsky’s technique. Kuo’s playing feels just a touch measured here, missing the music’s sense of rollicking abandon, but only by millimetres: it’s still an exuberant and persuasive performance.