Hot on the heels of their impressive Brahms D minor Concerto (1/20), the Royal Northern Sinfonia with Lars Vogt as soloist and conductor have now released the B flat Concerto, paired with Vogt’s performance of the Handel Variations. The First Concerto was recorded in early winter 2018, while the Second was set down in mid-February 2019. Together they stand as a monument to a remarkable collaboration between the Sinfonia and Vogt, who is at the end of his five-year tenure as their music director. In comparison with the D minor Concerto, the B flat, with its wider expressive range and not inconsiderable ensemble challenges, seems an even greater feat, beautifully achieved.

Vogt’s approach is robust, shapely and highly rhythmical. He mitigates Brahms’s habitual textural thickness by refusing to pedal through staccato passages. Together with the orchestra, a marvellous plasticity of line is maintained throughout. This pliant rubato is the bedrock of their realisation of the music’s passionate ardour and vast sense of space.

In a Scherzo where fury threatens violence, the placating pathos of the upper strings (0'20") pierces the heart. After the strings and horns have pulled back the momentum to the Trio’s cooler climes, the piano’s lyrical line (5'30") speaks with a restrained nobility, disarming in its eloquence. In the Andante, Vogt exchanges primacy for partnership, allowing Steffan Morris’s exquisite cello solo the lead. Interestingly, as this exchange unfolds, it becomes clear that its drama forms the crux of the entire concerto, assuaging, if not resolving, the towering conflicts of the first two movements. The path is opened to the rambling pleasures and open air of the Hungarian Rondo finale.

Icing for this already substantial cake is provided by Vogt’s Handel Variations, which share with the concerto a home key. As lithe, evocative and compelling as the 25 variations are, the fugue comes as little short of a revelation. Vogt begins this grande machine with the utmost expressivity, lovingly shaping each line and indulging every opportunity for playfulness. By the time the octave bells begin to peal (3'59"), it is as though the entire populace has been caught up in a paroxysm of celebration. What a pleasure to encounter Brahms, so often interpreted as relentlessly earnest, here captured with his eyes brimming with joy.