Max Bruch had an extraordinary career. Born in 1838, he lived until 1920. He wrote his most famous work, the First Violin Concerto in G minor, when he was still in his twenties, yet over the decades after that he continued to write in exactly the same style, not believing that there should be progress in a composer’s development. So the Violin Concerto as well as his next most popular work, Kol Nidrei, dating from early in his career, are both included on this cleverly devised disc. Interestingly, Kol Nidrei comes in Bruch’s own transcription for violin rather than cello, which he felt “works very well”.

Yet the gem of this collection is the little-known Romance in G minor for viola and orchestra, which is just as haunting in its melodies as the slow movement of the Violin Concerto, with a glorious climax in the middle. The disc also includes the Overture to the Singspiel Scherz, List und Rache, his Op 1, composed very much in the style of Beethoven when Bruch was 20. It gives promise of his later development, even though in this recording the playing of the Bienne Symphony Orchestra of Switzerland is disappointingly slack in the slow introduction. Happily, elsewhere, Thomas Rösner inspires his orchestra to playing of admirable discipline and polish.

Add to these items the Serenade on Swedish Folk Melodies in five compact, lyrical movements and you have a disc that can safely be recommended to anyone who wants to investigate some of Bruch’s rarities as well as his most popular works. It is generally well played and well recorded, if with a slightly exaggerated bass that tends to be boomy. Both soloists are first-rate: Canadian violinist Alexandre da Costa, who gives an exceptionally warm account of the Concerto, and viola player Gilad Karni, who is just as persuasive in the richly enjoyable Romance.