Antheil sometimes plagiarises so unashamedly that listening to his music with real enjoyment demands a suspension of disbelief. His First Piano Concerto (1922) and A Jazz Symphony (1925), for example, lift ideas straight from Stravinsky’s Petrushka and The Rite of Spring respectively. What was Antheil thinking? Why did he feel compelled to insert such jarring appropriations when there’s so much actual invention and vitality in both these pieces? Or are these borrowings simply a form of homage to one of his musical heroes?

Thanks in large part to Karl-Heinz Steffens’s interpretation, I’d argue that A Jazz Symphony ultimately rewards that suspension of disbelief; that its references to Rite, while blatant, are woven inextricably into the music’s narrative structure. Steffens underscores the work’s unifying characteristics rather than emphasising its incongruities. The jazz elements may sound stiff and hard-edged in comparison with, say, Maurice Peress’s breezy account (Nimbus or MusicMasters, 4/94), but the overall effect conveys a compelling singularity of purpose.

The First Piano Concerto is considerably more diffuse. Some may hear Bartók in the opening minutes (as I do), though in fact Antheil’s work predates the Hungarian master’s piano concertos by several years. And perhaps that’s the problem with Antheil’s occasional poaching: one’s always wondering what’s his and what’s not. Certainly the long lyrical passage beginning at 5'40" is evidence enough of Antheil’s originality and genius. Frank Dupree’s finely chiselled performance maintains a tighter grip overall than any of his rivals.

Steffens’s tenderly expressive reading of a suite from the Latin-inspired ballet Capital of the World (1953) lacks the dramatic élan of Robert Irving’s pioneering 1954 recording for EMI and offers a more severely truncated version. In the Archipelago ‘Rhumba’ (1935), too, Steffens comes across as relatively straitlaced – at least when heard alongside Barry Kolman’s unbuttoned performance with the Slovak State Philharmonic (Centaur). Still, Steffens’s uncompromising view of A Jazz Symphony – like Storgårds’s of the Fourth Symphony (Chandos, 6/17) – proves Antheil worthy of reappraisal.