Philippe Bianconi has not enjoyed an exactly high-profile career since winning the silver medal at the Seventh Van Cliburn International Competition in 1985. In the extensive booklet (French, English, Japanese, German) attached to this handsomely produced release, the French pianist (b1960) speaks eloquently of his lifetime’s attachment to the music he plays here.

I cannot recall another version of the Four Ballades in which every note is so clearly articulated or phrasing which lends such lucid narrative to the unfolding drama – try the final pages of the F minor Ballade, which usually fly by in a flurry. There is an unshowy integrity and honesty about Bianconi’s interpretations that is entirely admirable. The downside is that by thus highlighting Chopin’s contrapuntal ingenuity – no right-hand Chopiniste he – and adopting far slower tempi than the norm, Bianconi misses the propulsive drama of these tone-poems. In the G minor and F minor Ballades, for instance, both Cortot and Perahia agree on timings of 8'49" and 9'46" in their benchmark recordings, compared with Bianconi’s 9'53" and 12'00" for the two works.

The enigmatic Prelude in C sharp minor, Op 45, was composed between the Second Ballade and the Third – which is where Bianconi places it in his programme, thoughtfully and sensitively played, like the Barcarolle which closes the disc. Preceding that is the Scherzo No 4 in which, like the Ballades, drama is sacrificed for textual clarity in a performance that fails to take flight.