London East Ender Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) was one of the most influential viola players of the last century, his sound and style not dissimilar to that of Fritz Kreisler on the violin, Kreisler being a pivotal influence just as Jascha Heifetz’s vibrant, ‘speaking’ tone informed the approach of Tertis’s most significant viola-playing rival at roughly the same time, the Scotsman William Primrose (1904 82). Tertis, though, being that much older, was the real pioneer, and fortunately for us he made a good many shellac records, which Biddulph has reissued.

Timothy Ridout launches this admirable two-disc ‘Celebration’ with one of countless works dedicated to Tertis, York Bowen’s Viola Sonata No 1 in C minor, which opens very much in the manner of Wieniawski’s Légende though the lovely second subject more recalls the comforting worlds of Ketèlbey or Coates (Coates’s ‘First Meeting’ is a welcome inclusion on disc 2). Another possible allusion opens the second movement, namely ‘Deep River’ – music which, like the Sonata’s rustic finale, draws a deep response from Ridout and Frank Dupree (his able pianist on this first disc; the second features an equally competent James Baillieu). Numerous short pieces (Kreisler, Ireland, Mendelssohn, Bridge, Brahms, Schumann etc) remind us how back in the day most recital programmes would leave room at the end for tasty brief morceaux, and Ridout relishes them with taste, imagination and a keen sense of colour.

As it happens, Ridout and James Baillieu choose an endpiece that in scale and quality matches (at the very least) Bowen’s impressive sonata, the Viola Sonata of Rebecca Clarke, which opens to a restless impetuoso reminiscent of Bloch. The agitated mood returns for the 10-minute finale, which contrasts with the movement’s more contemplative music (beam up from 3'49"). Here Ridout and Baillieu are masters of mood and shading, much as they are throughout the programme. Clarke’s essay is preceded by York Bowen’s rather curious Obbligato to Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata as edited and completed by Ridout. Not exactly one of the set’s highlights.

Vaughan Williams is represented by Six Studies in English Folk Song, the fourth and fifth, ‘She borrowed some of her mother’s gold’ and ‘The Lady and the Dragon’, being especially lovely. Then there’s Fauré’s Élégie, beautifully played; music by the blind English composer and organist William Wolstenholme; and an especially urgent Rhapsody by William Henry Reed.

Ridout compliments his inspirational producer Andrew Keener and sound engineers Dave Rowell and Phil Rowlands ‘for capturing everything so beautifully’, and I can only echo his praise. All told, it’s a most rewarding programme that gathers together an unusual array of ear-catching pieces in performances that present the music in its best possible light, aided in print by Tully Potter’s excellent notes.