Keen-eared collectors will enjoy spotting the differences between Walton’s original 1939 version of the Violin Concerto (familiar to connoisseurs from dedicatee Jascha Heifetz’s dazzling premiere recording for HMV from February 1941 with Eugene Goossens and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) and the rather more leanly scored revision (dated November 20, 1943). Dutton’s multichannel hybrid SACD leads off with the first modern recording of the former. Very satisfying it is, too: Lorraine McAslan gives an impressively secure and stylish account of the (unchanged) solo part, and she enjoys alert and spirited support from Martin Yates and the BBC Concert Orchestra, whose percussionists are kept on their toes in the central Neapolitan Scherzo especially (listen out for some delightfully piquant contributions from castanets and xylophone).

The Walton shares this disc with the substantial concerto that Arthur Bliss tailored for the Italian-born British virtuoso Alfredo Campoli (and his generously songful timbre and superlative spiccato in particular). Full of first-rate ideas and immaculately crafted, it is a work of vaulting ambition, strong personality and considerable imaginative scope that ill deserves its comparative neglect. Indeed, this would seem to be only the concerto’s third commercial recording, following Campoli’s own pioneering version from November 1955 with the LPO under the composer (once available on Beulah in a really excellent transfer by Decca’s Tony Hawkins – 9/95, nla) and Lydia Mordkovitch’s trusty alliance with Richard Hickox and the BBC NOW (Chandos, 11/06). Suffice to report, McAslan and Yates do Bliss’s abundantly communicative inspiration absolutely proud in a judiciously prepared reading of the uncut score that ideally combines purposeful thrust, big-hearted conviction and combustible spontaneity.

The expansive acoustic of Watford Colosseum (formerly Town Hall) lends a kindly glow to proceedings, and there are useful notes by Stephen Lloyd. Plaudits to everyone involved with this most rewarding issue.