Along with many others who heard Anna Vinnitskaya’s recording of Prokofiev and Ravel concertos after her 2007 victory at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, I was mightily impressed by her, both as a musician and as a pianist. Encountering her new recording of Brahms, however, was a bit perplexing, so unconventional can her interpretations be. Only after repeated listening have some of the performances seemed fully persuasive.

The decision to place Brahms’s transcription of the Bach Chaconne at the head of the programme was a singularly unhappy one. No attempt is made at Baroque style, much less one filtered through Brahms’s 19th-century lens. Instead we hear deep seriousness of approach, rigidly unvaried arpeggiation and careful observation of staccatos where marked. Combined, they do not add up to a compelling reading.

Among the original works, some stand out as particularly fine. In Op 76, the B minor Capriccio has a sparkle that enlivens an unusually thorough exploration of the inner polyphony. The A flat Intermezzo has the delicacy of a small music box and a welcoming graciousness attends the A major Intermezzo. In Op 116, the melancholy languor of the A minor Intermezzo is thoroughly convincing, and two of the three Intermezzos in E (minor and major, the fifth and sixth of the set) have an understated subtlety.

On the other hand, in the most extended of the original works, the B minor Rhapsody from Op 79, Vinnitskaya’s touch seems harshly aggressive, with hectic tempi pressed to the maximum, occasionally verging on hysteria. Elsewhere, as in the opening piece of Op 76 or the last of Op 116, the frenetic pace is driven, with moments of relaxation or reflective repose that never quite materialise.