Julien Brocal’s recordings of Chopin’s Op 28 Preludes and Op 35 Sonata reveal a sensitive and talented pianist before us, although, interpretatively speaking, he’s a ‘work in progress’. One liability concerns his way with dynamics, which never go beyond mezzo-piano and mezzo-forte in many of the Preludes. Conversely, when Brocal does let loose with fortissimos (as in Nos 18 and 24) he has trouble getting softer when necessary. In addition, some of the more difficult Preludes, for example Nos 8, 16 and 19, find Brocal letting the right hand assume the balance of power, with the left hand more or less parked in neutral, so to speak.

He misjudges No 9’s climaxes, brings a less than decisive rhythmic profile to No 12’s agitato phrases and adds a predictable luftpause to the end of each phrase in No 7. No 2 is emphatically heavy-handed, while No 3’s quicksilver left-hand runs are accurate but not particularly supple or effortless. To be sure, Brocal scores high dramatic points in No 22, while his fluent and well-proportioned phrasing in the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude (No 15) keeps the music alive and afloat. Yet, on the whole, Brocal is not about to displace Schmitt-Leonardy, Sokolov, Tharaud, Trifonov, Budu and Zhang, among recent contenders, let alone Argerich, Moravec and Ashkenazy.

Overly loud playing prevails throughout the Sonata’s first movement, although Brocal stokes the development section’s disquiet with some arresting rubatos. At first the Scherzo’s Trio seems slow and square, yet you soon notice the pianist’s fine sense of long-lined control, which continues over into the Funeral March. The ‘wind through the graveyard’ finale’s sotto voce unison lines are securely dispatched, complete with an appropriately whiplash conclusion. The interpretation sounds less imaginative and interesting when measured alongside Grimaud, Hamelin, Pogorelich, Argerich, Gilels or the first Pollini version, yet it works perfectly well within its own parameters. For all of its undeniable potential, Brocal’s Chopin faces the inevitable reality of an extensive catalogue of superior competing versions of these oft recorded works.