Alberto Rosado showcases some of the most significant modern composers in this well-considered programme. Inevitably he’s up against fierce competition, not least Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s recordings of both Ligeti’s Ricercata (included on the disc which received Gramophone’s Contemporary Award in 1997) and the complete Vingt Regards.

Ligeti’s Ricercata consists of 11 movements, the first confined to relentless reiteration of the single pitch A in different registers with a quizzical hanging D at the end. The second uses three notes, and so on until the last incorporates all 12 tones. As Ligeti works towards that final andante, a homage to Frescobaldi, from the bald, Cartesian declaration of existence and defiance in the first piece, the musical timbre becomes colder as the increasing chromaticism supplants the primary colours of the earlier sections. It’s a simple but daring concept, realised with great panache by Ligeti, and Rosado performs it with the right amount of bravado.

For my taste, he carries too much of that into the Messiaen. He tends to lean too much on the birdsong and Asian rhythms to the detriment of the sense of awe and mystery, and some of Messiaen’s distinctive sonorities and colours get obscured. Sometimes, as in ‘Première communion’, he gets the balance right. There is an undeniable power and rhythmic drive throughout, but this is not an interpretation that could wean me away from my ancient LPs of Rajna’s recording (Saga, 8/69 – nla) or from Loriod.

For Takemitsu, too, the light is, occasionally, a little too harsh, the edges rather too hard, the attack too muscular. It’s far from being a bad performance, but it could have benefited from a little more soft-pedal, literally and metaphorically. Unexpectedly, then, Rosado’s reading of Cage is delicate and beautifully-shaded. Overall, this is worth considering as a snapshot of some of the finest mid-20th century piano music.