The idea of pairing the Beethoven Concerto with Fritz Kreisler’s music is a fine one; Kreisler was, after all, a wonderful exponent of the Concerto and the programme brings together two sides of the great Viennese tradition. I can’t say, however, that the orchestrations of Kreisler add anything to the original pieces: the grandiose quality of the Praeludium and Allegro is exaggerated to the point of parody; Liebesleid is given an unpleasant addition of schmaltz in the guise of an orchestral introduction. And, because of the big orchestral backing, there’s no space for subtlety, and David Garrett often feels obliged to play too emphatically or to draw out the music excessively – Caprice viennois takes a whole minute longer than Kreisler’s own recordings.

The Beethoven has some lovely episodes – Garrett’s playing of the coda following the first-movement cadenza is spellbinding – and it’s particularly well recorded; the important bass melodies ‘tell’ in a way that’s quite rare. But here, too, Garrett shows a tendency to project too strongly; the finale’s G minor episode, marked dolce, is a case in point. For all his vitality and spontaneity, he doesn’t get to the heart of the music as Isabelle Faust and Claudio Abbado do so memorably.

The accompanying DVD has more interest than is usual with such promotional videos. There are fascinating interviews with Garrett’s teachers, Ida Haendel and Itzhak Perlman, and a memorable account of the strains of being a teenage virtuoso, making clear the liberating effect of Garrett’s move to crossover performance.