Bowen’s two highly contrasting viola sonatas were inspired by the pioneering virtuoso Lionel Tertis. Both were composed in 1905 and first performed by Tertis and Bowen (who was himself a fine pianist) at the Aeolian Hall, London, in May 1905 and February 1906 respectively. Considered to be at the cutting edge of technical difficulty for their time – Tertis insisted that Bowen should not write any less demandingly for the viola than for the violin – this may have been a reason why the works were largely neglected until recent times. Now, however, this recording joins those of James Boyd with Bengt Forsberg and Lawrence Power with Simon Crawford-Phillips, which serves to underline how seriously Bowen’s works for viola are now taken by the instrument’s best virtuosos.

Moreover, both works provide a refreshing and varied sequel to the Brahms viola sonatas with which they are in many ways unjustly compared. Bowen’s effulgent and often suave harmonic language is at once more opulent and extrovert, his aesthetic outlook rather less cerebrally classical than his German predecessor. Matthew Jones and Michael Hampton’s enthusiastic and sympathetic performances bring out this aspect of Bowen’s style in spades, especially in the slower central movements, and Jones’s generous tone is admirably well suited to this brazenly Romantic repertoire, especially in the lyrical parts of the later and more mature Phantasy of 1918, above all in the wonderful Poco adagio, where the sense of control is particularly persuasive and affecting.