André Mathieu, born in Quebec in 1929, was an infant prodigy who never fulfilled his promise. He composed his Concerto de Québec in 1943 in time for his 14th birthday, but the score exists in six different versions out of which Alain Lefèvre has fashioned this performing score. It opens flamboyantly, but the work’s essence is predominantly Romantic, with the memorable slow movement sounding very like film music, yet somehow curiously distinctive in its melodic lyricism. The finale has a jiggy main theme, but again brings a memorable secondary idea with a distinctly Rachmaninovian nostalgia, and its passionate climax on the strings is truly in the Rachmaninov/Tchaikovsky concerto tradition. The ready melodic flow throughout the work is endearing: this is not great music and its influences are eclectic, but it is very convincingly played here: Lefèvre obviously believes in the music and Talmi gives him splendid support.

The Warsaw Concerto, of course, is the one completely successful ‘film’ concerto, with an unforgettable main theme by Richard Addinsell, and put together and scored by Roy Douglas (who got very little credit for it). This is a spacious, at times languorous performance, again very well played, with rich string textures, not lacking ardour, and certainly ending with a powerful denouement. But some may want more ongoing propulsion in the performance overall.

Similarly, the first movement of the Gershwin is relaxed, not without its niceties of pointing, but lacking the pizzazz of American performances. This means that the evocative slow movement, beautifully played as it is, does not bring the expected degree of contrast, and it is in the spirited finale that Gershwin’s witty rhythms come fully into their own. The recording is good without being in the finest class.