It is a shame Naxos has not chosen to issue all three of Rautavaara’s piano concertos on a single, very desirable disc. Was it due to cost (the works would fit on a single disc), or a desire to go for something more fully in the composer’s more audience-friendly idiom than the First (3/99)?

As it is, the clean lines and sonorous scoring of Isle of Bliss (after Aleksis Kivi’s inspirational poem) provide just the right idiomatic lead-in to the broadly impressionistic Third Piano Concerto (1999). ‘Distanced calm’, ‘ruminative’ and ‘rapt inwardness’ are Richard Whitehouse’s phrases in his booklet note and while the concerto, subtitled ‘Gift of Dreams’, does have its more active and dramatic moments (especially in the finale), these describe the prevailing expressive moods of the work. The determinedly beautiful Second Concerto (1989), by contrast, is more romantic and passionate, with an intensity at times only hinted at in its mellifluous successor (written for Ashkenazy).

Laura Mikkola is the first to record all three concertos, a particular advantage for collectors. Another is Tim Handley’s full but transparent recording. Mikkola’s technique is formidable and the orchestral accompaniment of the Dutch Radio players is a step above that of their German rivals in No 2, though this may be due to a more sympathetic acoustic as much as to the recording.

In the Third and Isle of Bliss, honours are even despite some marked differences of approach, the choice primarily one of couplings (Concerto No 1 for the Second, Autumn Gardens for the Third) and cost. Yet this newcomer takes top place on both counts and can be recommended unequivocally.