“Born in Ireland in 1782”, reads John Field’s headstone, “Dead in Moscow in 1837.” There is little of Moscow in Field’s music, this being Russia pre-Glinka (who, incidentally, studied with Field), but to my ears there’s a lot of Irish – especially in these endearing piano concertos: softly spoken, silver-tongued, loquacious, charming and genial company, to be sure.

I first fell under Field’s spell in 1971 when I bought a recording by Rena Kyriakou with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and CA Bunte (Candide CE31006) including the best known of the seven, No 2 in A flat. It was to this old friend that I turned first in this handsomely presented box-set with its first-class 23-page booklet (English only) by the project’s producer and artistic director, Ate∞ Orga. The Nice players, recorded in a focused, warm acoustic, are more than adequate without being outstanding and Guidarini is entirely sympathetic to Field’s idiom.

Paolo Restani makes a pleasing enough sound, uses the pedal sparingly and phrases gracefully, but there are lengthy episodes when he does nothing beyond playing the correct notes – and at a leisurely tempo to boot. Listen to the passage in the first movement of No 2, two minutes or so before the tutti at 8'40", the point at which Guidarini injects some energy back into proceedings. The same thing happens in the remarkable first movement of the Fifth Concerto (“L’incendie par l’orage”) at 7'40", while the Rondo alla polacca finale of No 3 is disappointingly earthbound. Elegant as Restani can be, he is bland in comparison with Benjamin Frith (Naxos, 2/98) and Michael O’Rourke (Chandos, 2/97). He reserves his best playing for the first movement of Concerto No 7. Here he sounds rejuvenated, more on top of the music, and makes the magical nocturne at its centre (“one of Field’s finest inspirations and an innovative stroke” – Orga) even more affecting than O’Rourke. The Brilliant disc, though, lasts only 32'10" whereas Chandos fills its album with solo works and a single-movement Piano Quintet (sadly Frith, my front-runner by a whisker in Field’s concertos, has not yet recorded No 7). On balance, however, Brilliant’s four CDs constitute such an outstanding bargain it is quite possible to overlook such shortcomings.