Poor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): little did the 23-year-old composer realise that, in relinquishing the wholesale copyright to his 1898 cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast for a measly £15, he would miss out on a small fortune. For the rest of his short life, Coleridge Taylor tried in vain to repeat the amazing popular success of his Hiawatha triptych (Parts 2 and 3 appeared in quick succession). However, with a wife and two children to keep, he was reluctant to turn down any commissions, quite apart from his teaching commitments and increasingly punishing schedule as a conductor (especially in the US, where he did so much to encourage fellow black artists).

Achievements such as the moving Symphonic Variations on an African Air (1906) and Violin Concerto (1911) offer a glimpse of what might have been. As for the present programme, though, it’s the salon that predominates. The earliest of the composer’s Longfellow-inspired creations, the three Hiawathan Sketches (1896), are innocuous stuff (the final dance endearingly akin to a hoedown in a smoking jacket). The Violin Sonata of 1897 found a posthumous champion in Albert Sammons, who must surely have relished its naive charm. Both outer movements nod approvingly towards Dvovák and Grieg in their outdoor modality (some will find the writing uncomplicated to a fault), while the central Larghetto emerges as a cross between the ‘Berceuse’ from Dolly and Salut d’amour. The fetching 1910 Petite suite de concert will already be familiar to many in its alternative orchestral guise. Just as engaging are the four African Dances (1904), the second of which looks forward to the 24 Negro Melodies for piano of the following year.

So, these are no long-lost masterpieces, but well worth a listen, especially as David Juritz and Michael Dussek sound as though they have been performing this music for many moons. The recording (set down within the helpful acoustic of St George’s Brandon Hill, Bristol) is outstandingly clean and true.