Four works for piano and orchestra by Chopin, Mozart and Hummel on a single disc. Different. Intriguing. Sony signed Alexander Krichel in 2011, though the booklet makes no mention of either him, the orchestra or conductor (he was born in Hamburg in 1989, is currently studying at the RCM with Alexeev and was awarded ‘the renowned ECHO Klassik as Newcomer of the Year in 2013’).

The two Chopin works don’t come up that often but were part of Oleg Marshev’s superb complete piano-and-orchestra works reviewed in October. Krichel yields nothing to Marshev in playfulness, lyricism or bravura; and I marginally prefer Sony’s closer, crisper sound and the greater finesse of the Polish players, who pack a mighty punch in the tuttis. On the other hand, Danacord provides useful separate tracks for the various sections of both works, which Sony does not.

Fellow fans of the great Hummel will be delighted to see him in such distinguished company. Oberon’s Magic Horn, his ‘Grosse Fantasie, Op 116’, is a homage to Weber’s opera rather than a potpourri and, while it may not be a masterpiece, is not without interest, especially its unusual (for 1829) central ‘tempesta di mare’ sequence, replete with flashings of lightning (piccolo) and lashings of diminished sevenths (piano). Krichel’s response to the often melodramatic ideas and Chopinesque figurations is completely convincing and no less commanding than Christopher Hinterhuber’s 2007 account on Naxos. Krichel’s playing of the early A major Concerto by Hummel’s teacher, which forms the centrepiece of this most enjoyable programme, is no less elegant and assured in execution and style. I look forward to hearing more of Mr Krichel.