The First Piano Concerto of Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) has been recorded several times, his Second Concerto less frequently. To my mind there is a good reason for this because, despite the more individual voice and novel format of No 2, its seemingly improvised structure and lack of memorable themes makes it an awkward work to appreciate even after several hearings. No 1, though indebted to Brahms (especially), Grieg and Tchaikovsky, has all the barnstorming, lyrical elements of the traditional late-19th-century Romantic concerto. It almost merits a place in the sun – the first movement’s second subject is gorgeous, and there’s a snappy scherzo à la Saint-Saëns and a lusciously expressive slow movement (the best of the four). The finale has a grim, unrewarding dance as its main theme; halfway through, Stenhammar changes course, heads for quieter pastures and ends, quite contrary to expectations, in a mood of hushed intimacy, an open invitation to pianists not to programme the work.

Among the first was Irène Mannheimer, who plays Kurt Atterberg’s reconstruction of the (then supposedly lost) score with Charles Dutoit, a fine recording on Sterling. Naxos and Hyperion offer Stenhammar’s original, rediscovered and published in 1991.

Niklas Sivelöv negotiates the torrents of octaves and other rhetorical gestures with aplomb and in both concertos adopts consistently faster tempi than Seta Tanyel on Hyperion. Yet comparison of the recorded sound, Seta Tanyel’s crisper attack and Andrew Manze’s luminous realisation of what is often overblown, leaves you with the feeling that Sivelöv is the slower of the two. It’s the difference between sweating in a sauna and swimming in mountain spring, added to which Hyperion has by far the better booklet.