With Vol 63 of Hyperion’s ‘Romantic Piano Concerto’ series we alight upon Benjamin Godard (1849 95), the French composer remembered today, if at all, for the rather lovely Berceuse from his otherwise forgotten opera Jocelyn. On the evidence of his piano concertos in A minor (1875) and G minor (1893) and the Introduction and Allegro of 1880, his heroes were the likes of Mendelssohn and Schumann, seen through the prism, perhaps, of Saint-Saëns. As far as the pianism goes, Godard was evidently fully aware of the new vistas of technique and colour opened up by Liszt. That said, it would be difficult to claim that this music lives long in the memory after having heard it.

It does, however, tickle the senses with some attractive, dramatic ideas during the actual process of listening. There is, for example, a delightful, nifty Saint-Saëns-esque Scherzo to the A minor Concerto, and an even better one in the G minor, but the one in the A minor tends to run out of steam in its middle section. This is the main drawback in both concertos: if Godard has his moments, he seems all too often to lose his way in a labyrinth of lower than top-drawer material, exhausting its potential to lead anywhere. The Introduction and Allegro, less ambitious, is also more successful, with an opening Lento of grandiose pretensions but strong melodic definition as well, and an appealing rum ti tum Allegro. The performances by the indefatigable Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian orchestra cannot be faulted.