Alexander Tharaud dives vigorously into the piano’s unexpected entrance just a few bars into the orchestral ritornello of Mozart’s Jeunehomme Concerto, pushing the tempo ever so slightly. Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy continue on their own highly polished trajectory, not entirely avoiding those exaggerated feminine endings, oh-so-precious dynamic dips and threadbare string tone upon which period performers dote. The first-movement development section’s exquisite harmonic tension and release elicits delicately wrought soloist/ensemble interplay. Don’t expect any real bottom or strong woodwind profile within the slow movement’s orchestral image vis-à-vis John Eliot Gardiner’s English Baroque Soloists. Instead, concentrate on Tharaud’s eloquent tone and refined legato finger technique. The finale’s slow A flat major episode features sensitively placed pizzicatos and a dramatic transition back into the scampering main theme.

In the A major Rondo, the orchestral execution flip-flops between mushy legato and exaggerated détaché articulation, in contrast to Gardiner’s clearly aligned strands. Haydn’s D major Concerto stands out for Tharaud’s poised pianism and stylish wit, and his extensive, imaginative first-movement cadenza offers one delight after another. But, again, the orchestra’s outsize third-movement accents and emaciated string timbre in the slow movement cannot compare to the Manchester Camerata’s superior balances and expressive palette in their recent recording with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.

Fortunately, the ensemble find their centre in support of Joyce DiDonato at the peak of her form in Mozart’s great K505 concert aria. Her impeccable intonation no matter how decorative the passagework, her effortless agility in all registers and her genius for word-painting (together with Tharaud’s vibrant and eloquently shaded piano obbligato) are worth the price of this disc.