Cohen, Brazilian-born, long resident in the UK but now based in the US, is a formidable, if underrated, Lisztian as those who have heard either of his B minor Sonatas (Novello in 1989, and BIS, 12/04) will attest. It was Cohen who initiated Naxos’s Liszt cycle in 1997, a disc that ends with a superlative account of the solo version of the work that opens the present disc.

And if, like me, you insist that the opening pages of Totentanz in its orchestral garb should never be less startling than Raymond Lewenthal’s benchmark 1969 recording (Élan), then you are going to enjoy this new version. Cohen is no shrinking violet when it comes to the rest of the work either, working through the six variations on the “Dies irae” theme with thrilling power and precision, particularly impressive in the repeated-note fugato of Var 5. But importantly he also has the ability to project a beautiful cantabile line (even at fortissimo) which stands him in good stead for the concertos, executed with all the theatrical flair and lyrical grace necessary for these two old warhorses to come up as fresh as paint.

BIS have clearly found a first-class orchestra and conductor for their concerto recordings (the same team partnered Yevgeny Sudbin’s highly praised disc of Tchaikovsky’s and Medtner’s First Concertos, 5/07) and in all three works they prove to be colourful, feisty collaborators, the solo clarinettist and cellist in the two concertos deserving special mention.

I shall not be discarding Nelson Freire’s 1995 disc of the same repertoire with the Dresden Philharmonic under Michel Plasson (Berlin Classics), equally compelling in its own way though with a more recessed sound picture. But for unapologetic bravura combined with intimate poetry, a complete empathy with Liszt’s intentions and full-blooded recorded sound, Cohen and his cohorts are hard to beat.