Tedd Joselson has kept a relatively low public profile since his 1970s association with RCA Victor, focusing mainly on teaching. In November 2019 the 65-year-old pianist re-emerged to record two of the concerto repertoire’s warhorses.

On the positive side, Joselson plays with more colour and warmth of tone since his RCA heyday, and he sings out the Grieg’s slow movement most eloquently while daringly stretching out the finale’s lyrical episodes. But the latter’s main theme increasingly drags, with the rhythmic momentum running uphill on the part of both soloist and orchestra. It cannot compare to the lithe transparency distinguishing Leif Ove Andsnes’s two traversals or, better still, Sigurd Slåttebrekk’s remarkable recording.

Joselson conveys more fluency and sweep in the Rachmaninov Second’s first movement; unlike many young pianists who hog centre stage, Joselson knows when to pull back and accompany. However, the musicians undermine the slow movement’s delicate polyrhythmic textures with ritards and tenutos that seem more tentative than purposeful. Sample the Ashkenazy/Previn reading’s firmer alignment and definition to realise what’s missing here. In the finale, Joselson’s fingerwork is either laboured and unsteady (his solo entrance and the triplet figurations), or relatively confident (each appearance of the ‘Full moon and empty arms’ big tune). One has to credit and admire Arthur Fagen’s skilful podium manoeuvring in the process although the composer’s rapid-fire contrapuntal interplay falls flat when measured next to the red-hot incisiveness of Richter/Rowicki, Hough/Litton, Graffman/Bernstein or Katchen/Solti. The spirit is willing, but the competition is fierce.