Here is a Mendelssohn recital with a difference, sandwiching two of his finest keyboard works between the perennially enchanting piano concertos. But this is not the only difference, for Jean-Yves Thibaudet, after a disappointing earlier showing in Chopin and Grieg concertos, is back on form with a vengeance and clearly in his element. He and his excellent partners launch the First Concerto at a fizzing Molto allegro con fuoco yet everything is crystal clear and with a central Andante – music to soothe the savage breast – as serene as the outer movements are scintillating.

The Second Concerto (once denigrated as lacking the freshness of the First) is no less successful, once again propelled at a fierce Allegro appassionato and with subsequent figuration reeled off with an enviable aplomb. I’m not sure that the finale’s character and playfulness entirely survive such a ferocious clip (it is marked Presto scherzando) yet the pace of events is exhilarating. Thibaudet is no less dashing in the ever-green Rondo capriccioso and if his Variations sérieuses hardly compare in eloquence with the likes of Cortot, Horowitz and, more recently Alicia de Larrocha and Murray Perahia, he quickly advances from a prosaic rather than serious start to playing of a dizzying fleetness and assurance. Sound and balance are admirable and although I would never want to part with cherished lithe, sophisticated and immaculate discs of the concertos by Rudolf Serkin, András Schiff and Murray Perahia respectively, I would always return to Thibaudet for his impish, dry-ice sparkle – for Mendelssohn rejuvenated.