Today’s foremost champion of her compatriot George Enescu (1881-1955) begins with three of his early works, new to CD but entirely derivative and, I would suggest, forgettable despite the coda of the third piece reproducing, we learn, ‘Enescu’s ad hoc interpretation from the 1950 interview for Radio France’ – one for Enescu completists. There follow fine performances of Gaspard and La valse (Ravel was a friend of Enescu), the former notable more for its high drama and textual clarity than for its fantasy and colouring (Argerich, say, and Pogorelich). The highlight for this reviewer comes next: the Five Bagatelles (1934) by Marcel Mihalovici (1898-1985), a fellow Romanian whom Enescu advised to move to Paris in 1919. Technically undemanding, these unpretentious little poems are quite delightful, the final ‘Nocturne’ clearly alluding to Satie’s Gymnopédies. They are dedicated to Mihalovici’s wife, Monique Haas. Disc 1 closes with two Enescu transcriptions, the first being an over-elaborate attempt to transfer Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen to the keyboard. The second is of his own popular Rhapsodie roumaine No 1, a showpiece that relies heavily on Enescu’s brilliant orchestration to make its full effect. As a piano solo, around the halfway mark (6'30") onwards, it starts to become relentless. By the end, it had long outstayed its welcome even as a curiosity.

I would have left it there but the endearingly unpredictable Borac leaves Enescu for a second well-filled CD with both books of Debussy’s Études followed by Schumann’s Piano Concerto. By no means are either of these mere also-rans but vivid and compelling readings that belie their studio origins. If some of the Études are a little heavy-handed compared with, say, Gieseking or Uchida, the Concerto is a joy from beginning to end, tender and exuberant in equal measure, the first movement akin to Howard Shelley’s exciting Allegro affetuoso (12'57" – Chandos, 5/09) than Wilhelm Kempff’s (15'43" – DG). Borac concludes with ‘Ahnung’ (1'52"), an album leaf presented by Clara Schumann to a friend, only unearthed in 2009 (the CD tells us that it was originally part of Kinderszenen), its world premiere in September 2009 given by this ever-resourceful and imaginative pianist.