Winner of the 2005 Chopin Competition and with two highly acclaimed discs behind him already, Rafað Blechacz is a rising star for all the right reasons. His PR budget may not yet match that of his fellow DG pianist Lang Lang but his playing is of a different order, no more clearly defined than in their recordings of these two concertos.

The long opening tutti of the E minor Concerto is the first of many passages indicating that Semkow and the Royal Concertgebouw are no mere passengers (their contribution to the whole enterprise is outstanding): witness the burnished brass at 2'56" and 3'16", and the horn’s counterpoint to the con espressione third subject at 7'15", given unusual prominence. The tasteful and stylish Blechacz, too, highlights much detail that is often overlooked – the succession of left-hand trills, for instance, beginning at 18'15" – without pulling the focus on the musical narrative. No right-hand Chopiniste he.

The Romanza is over-egged with some exaggerated rubato (Josef Hofmann remains incomparable here) but the finale comes off well. In the F minor Concerto, with some lovely woodwind-playing in the first movement, tempi remain on the cautious side and I missed the tingle of an icy chill that Argerich and Cortot inter alia bring to the central section of the Larghetto (though here the Concertgebouw strings are wonderfully atmospheric). But I would trade these richly satisfying accounts any day for others that lack the musical integrity and clarity of conception that Blechacz and Semkow bring to these works.