Anyone on the receiving end of a Borletti-Buitoni fellowship gets my respect, as it’s generally an indicator of prodigious musical promise. Yet Gabriele Carcano’s new disc of Schumann does not live up to expectations. Problems become apparent right from the start: the opening movement of Schumann’s Humoreske is so pulled-about, the hands desychronised as a matter of course, that you practically lose sight of where the bar lines fall. This is compounded by a focus on creating a clarity of texture which leaves the music feeling disembodied. William Youn, in his recent Sony disc, was a far more compelling interpreter. The second section begins more convincingly but this doesn’t last; and, while there are passages that succeed better, such as the energetic writing in the midst of the third part, it’s very hit-and-miss and ultimately Carcano’s disinclination to stick to any particular tempo is frustrating. Lupu makes everything speak so much more naturally and Carcano doesn’t come close to Anderszewski in terms of personality.

In Davidsbündlertänze, there are occasional hints of what might have been had Carcano simply allowed the music to speak for itself. A number such as ‘Zart und singend’ (track 19) has poise and poetry, while tracks 17 and 21 show that he has technique aplenty. But ‘Nicht schnell’ (track 12) drenches Schumann’s creation in cheap perfume, while ‘Balladenmässig, sehr rasch’ (track 15) is spoilt by an unsubtle left hand. He’s a world away from artists such as Uchida, who makes this piece completely her own with a masterful imagination and the most subtle pianism, or Imogen Cooper, who brings to it a finely detailed characterisation.

Carcano ends with the late Geistervariationen, the theme unfolding quite steadily. Here, too, there’s a tendency to get lost in the detail: the Canon is unsubtly rendered, while the fourth variation is overly concerned with inner detail and the last also lacks a sense of line. How much more Cooper makes of this.