We consider the energy-averaged two-point correlator of spectral determinants and calculate contributions beyond the diagonal approximation using semiclassical methods. Evaluating the contributions originating from pseudoorbit correlations in the same way as in Heusler et al (2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 044103) we find a discrepancy between the semiclassical and the random matrix theory result. A complementary analysis based on a field-theoretical approach shows that the additional terms occurring in semiclassics are canceled in field theory by so-called curvature effects. We give the semiclassical interpretation of the curvature effects in terms of contributions from multiple traversals of periodic orbits around shorter periodic orbits and discuss the consistency of our results with previous approaches.