The Tempest and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto: an odd coupling but, hey, why not? Tchaikovsky’s emotionally charged symphonic fantasy comes first. While admitting that the Odense Symphony is not the Berlin Phil (especially the string department), this is an accomplished and exciting performance. One might quibble about the prominence given to the repeated horn figure from 3'29" but not that accorded to the timps and bass drum while ‘Prospero raises a great storm’. On the other hand, Neeme Järvi with the Detroit Symphony are better engineered in a more spacious acoustic, and Mikhail Pletnev with the Russian National Orchestra offer more vivid characterisation in ‘Ariel’ and the beguiling ‘Ferdinand and Miranda’ love music.

The Concerto, recorded at a concert nearly two years earlier (December 2011), is fine – the kind of live performance that one might listen to with pleasure on the radio while preparing a meal and not give a second thought to afterwards. You might wonder at the lack of intent in the opening pages and whether the sound is as crisp as it might be. It is efficiently conducted and Joyce Yang is a confident and poised soloist, introducing many small individual touches along the way and with clear and perceptive phrasing. Throughout, there is an occasional intrusive ‘thunk’ (maybe pedal action or podium enthusiasm). With the score in hand, orchestral detail is generalised: in the first movement one misses the definition of the muted string triplets from bar 270 et seq and the piano is overwhelmed in the passage 15 bars before the close. As I said, it’s all OK – but no competition for Matsuev, Argerich and the many other great recordings available.