Few would argue that the international competition circuit has significantly raised the level of piano-playing worldwide. Yet the high stakes of these musical Olympiads can generate media coverage closer to avid partisanship than cool-headed reporting. Some of the more memorable competitions owe their notoriety to an outlier contestant who captivated the public and press but failed to win support of the jury. Think of Youri Egorov at the 1977 Cliburn or Ivo Pogorelich at the 1980 Chopin. Last summer something similar happened at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, when media attention focused less on Dmitry Masleev, the gold medalist, than on the fourth-place winner, Lucas Debargue. Sony’s release of Debargue’s debut recording, recorded live last November at the Salle Cortot in Paris, now provides the opportunity for a calmer assessment.

The recital’s centrepiece is Gaspard de la nuit in a remarkable reading that exudes drama, colour and atmosphere. Pacing in ‘Ondine’ is apt, building to the nymph’s feigned tears and bitter laughter as she disappears into the lake. The sheer desolation conjured in ‘Le gibet’ is all the more palpable for its understatement, the barely audible but incessant bell suggesting incipient madness. Debargue deploys his pianistic arsenal with relative abandon in the mercurial ‘Scarbo’, but it is the cohesion of the triptych that is most striking.

Debargue lavishes great care on the intricate polyphony of Chopin’s F minor Ballade, enveloping the piece with a searchingly poetic quality that is quite appealing. Despite his seductively beautiful sound, one is occasionally brought up short by the odd interpretative choice. I’d be willing to put money on the probability that Chopin didn’t intend the left-hand trills at 6'00" to signal transition into a mincing menuet l’antique. Fortunately such details are rare enough, at least in the Ballade, not to mar the overall impression.

The Mephisto Waltz, that piece of Liszt perhaps most deserving of two decades’ quiet sabbatical, is also colourful, with vivid contrasts and admirable clarity. However, an almost measure-by-measure overlay of Chopinesque rubato, risky in Liszt, impairs structural integrity and impedes narrative thrust. The exaggerated, accelerating returns to the dance at 8'25" and 12'08" sound contrived, while the counterintuitive coda comes off as glib. Two cosseted miniatures, Grieg’s Melody, Op 47 No 3, and Schubert’s third Moment musical seem freighted with emotional cargo beyond their formal capacities. The Scarlatti group, distant from contemporary consensus about Iberian Baroque style, fails to make much of an impression.

Obviously Lucas Debargue is an intelligent, gifted, imaginative young musician, whose special sense of expressive urgency bodes well for the future. When he indulges a tendency of ferreting out minor details to foreground, his interpretations can sound mannered and arch. That said, his continued growth and achievement will be things to watch. Meanwhile, it’s tempting to quote one of Laurie Anderson’s admonishing lyrics: ‘Just talk normal.’