The Mazurka was a form that engaged Chopin from his teenage years until his death. There are some 62 in all, if one includes doubtful and spurious works. Capturing their essence can be elusive, a task made more difficult when presented, as they were never intended to be, en bloc. These jewel-like miniature tone-poems are better savoured in groups of four or five at a time. That said, the greatest ‘complete Chopin mazurka’ recordings can be addictive. Once you’ve tasted one, you can’t stop. Sadly, this newcomer is not among them.

I sat through the first five or six of Russell Sherman’s traversal scratching my head, trying to work out why none sounded quite right. The sustaining pedal is constantly depressed (or half depressed) together with the una corda, enveloping each successive phrase in a kind of haze; frequently I found it hard to identify the basic pulse, the aural equivalent of someone trying to cross a busy road blindfolded; there are sudden crescendos and diminuendos, a rubato that invades the musical narrative…Sherman has an undeniable affection for the Mazurkas but sitting through all 51 on offer was, I’m afraid, a wearisome experience. The booklet, too, with its talk of ‘bourdon fifths and scalar, fujarka-like melodic patterns’ had me gasping for air. For this listener, Rubinstein in 1938 and Ohlsson in 1998 (now on a complete Chopin set from Hyperion) remain the benchmark.