Coming soon after Freddy Kempf’s identical coupling, Jonas Vitaud’s recording is altogether less diffident. He speaks of the Grande Sonate as ‘rich and ambitious’, an estimate not shared by many competitors in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition where it was once required repertoire (a rushed and disengaged performance by John Ogdon nearly cost him his first prize). Certainly it needs special pleading, notably in texture and sonority, if it is not to sound opaque and over-extended. And although Vitaud’s commitment is never in doubt, his overall proficiency becomes a limited virtue. This is particularly true of his heavy-handed, literal way with the Scherzo, where I greatly missed Cherkassky’s mercurial live magic.

Tchaikovsky’s gentle melancholy in many of the Seasons would also benefit from a greater fluidity. And if February is truly allegro giusto, its impact is blunted by a prosaic view of April’s fitful sunshine and a less than insinuating way with December – in the finest hands an irresistible white-tie-and-tails ballroom waltz. You will find greater warmth and affection from Pavel Kolesnikov, while Joseph Moog proves himself a formidable rival even to such greats as Richter and Pletnev in the sonata.