Another Chopin recital, a recording debut, and another gifted young Pole. Marek Bracha, fresh from his studies in Warsaw and at the RCM, is the recipient of numerous scholarships and has participated in various competitions but I can’t say that this disc recorded in October 2012, fine as it is, heralds the arrival of a compelling new talent with novel things to say about these much-recorded pieces.

That said, it’s not every Chopin programme that opens with the three Ecossaises (especially when they are ordered 3, 1, 2). They are closely linked, and Bracha invests them with a perky lilt that immediately grabs the attention, as does the cool-toned, immaculately voiced Steinway. We then head off into the great A flat Polonaise, where a certain emotional reserve is on show. The famous central octave section comes and goes merely as a contrasted interlude: whether you decide to play it as a cavalry charge (Rubinstein, Blechacz) or, as Chopin preferred, an approaching cavalcade (the single instruction he gives anywhere is at the top of the piece – maestoso), it needs more character and colour than it receives here. The four Mazurkas of Op 17 (ordered 3, 4, 2, 1) and the three of Op 68 (3, 2, 1) are as successful as the Ecossaises. Bracha is no sentimentalist and a masterpiece like the heartbreaking A minor Mazurka, Op 17 No 4, is all the more effective for that.

The Ballade comes off well without dislodging benchmark performances by Cortot, Argerich and Perahia, inter alios. The three Waltzes, Op 34 (ordered 1, 3, 2) provide further variety of tone and texture. Finally, in the dramatic flourishes of the F sharp minor Polonaise, Bracha lets his hair down to play with a passion and abandon that are lacking elsewhere.