Both methods of resampling should produce comparable results, but I agree with dklein that it is desirable to correct the sampling rate of the original since that is the error that was originally made. This does not change the samples themselves. It just changes the sample rate that is reported by the wav file. Once that is done, resample away. You can do it by adjusting semitones or by resampling to a different sampling rate. Either way, you're doing exactly the same thing.