The four Ballades are frequently programmed together on record, the four Impromptus less so and, though it is not my personal preference to listen to either set as a sequence (Chopin would have been bewildered by such a recital), the complete Ballades and Impromptus are rarely encountered on the same CD. This recording has been highly praised in some quarters and I looked forward eagerly to hearing the Silver Medal winner at the 2015 Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

The first bars of the G minor Ballade told me that this, alas, was not the kind of Chopin-playing that appeals to me – over-calculated, unspontaneous and dished up with applied emotion. As the piece progressed, there was nothing in Richard Hamelin’s concept of it that altered my view. The famous ending with its dramatic upward scales, hushed chordal response and final broken octave descent is so sectionalised that all narrative tension had long since evaporated before the end. Three more cohesive, less mannered performances of this work by Argerich, Cortot and Perahia – my personal benchmark recordings – are very much in the same time frame (around the 8'50" mark) compared to Richard-Hamelin’s 9'51".

The remaining three Ballades are far better accomplished, thoughtfully phrased and paced with commendable clarity. Indeed, the fiery codas of Nos 2 and 4, so often dispatched in a flurry of bravura (the latter especially), are as precise and lucid as any I can remember. Still, there are too many occasions in which everything stops, like the moment when the first section of Ballade No 3 concludes. Rubato is one thing, but too often it seems applied from without rather than emerging organically.

Richard-Hamelin’s habit of offering Chopin unnecessary help is not as obtrusive in the four Impromptus, apart from the ‘I’m always chasing rainbows’ section of the Fantaisie-impromptu, an otherwise highly commendable performance. Best of all is No 1 in A flat, a delightful account that allows the pianist’s singing tone to shine. The piano is very well recorded in an empty studio with a warm acoustic. The disc comes with an agreeably brief but pithy booklet.