We learn from Andrew Stewart’s first-rate booklet that Daniel Hope wanted to make a dance album 20 years ago. Concept albums were not popular in the early 2000s. ‘Now’, says Hope, ‘they’re very much in tune with people’s ways of listening. So I thought it was time to turn my dream project into reality.’ I’m glad he did. He waltzes, farandoles, fandangos and foxtrots his way from the 14th century (Lamento di Tristano by Anonymous) to the 20th (‘It don’t mean a thing if (it ain’t got that swing)’ by Duke Ellington), and the result is a real joy.

The dance begins with Waltz No 2 by Shostakovich (No 7 from Suite for Variety Orchestra), the first of 11 arrangements on the two CDs by Paul Bateman. It sets the tone for the whole release – generally upbeat, bright and breezy – followed by Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre, the two tracks enabling Hope to set out his stall as both director and violinist. A sequence of Dance of the Knights (Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet), Pas de deux from Swan Lake, a Mozart Rondo (not sure why), five Deutsche Tänze (very much from Schubert’s bottom drawer) and Offenbach’s Can-can have plenty of zest and drive but lack the depth and body of a full strength symphony orchestra. The smaller forces, however, are ideally suited to Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No 5, given extra piquancy with the addition of the cimbalom (played by Jenő Lisztes). From Russia, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary, we are whisked away to South America, the emblematic bandoneón (Omar Massa) flavouring the mix in Odessa Bulgar (by Trad), Escualo (Piazzolla) and Carlos Gardel’s sublime Por una cabeza, which will have you up on your feet tangoing round the kitchen. Bartók’s six short Romanian Folk Dances end disc 1.

This welcome variety of pace, texture and genre continues on disc 2 with a string of dances from the Baroque era (Baroque guitar, theorbo and harpsichord are added to the mix) before a string of 20th-century pieces ranging from the unfamiliar to the unexpected. How about ‘Róka-Tánc’ (‘Fox Dance’) from the Divertimento No 1 (on old Hungarian folk dances) by Leó Weiner (1885-1960), composed in 1934 and featuring both cimbalom and bandoneón, or Orawa – at 9'12" by far the longest piece in the collection – by Wojciech Kilar, which evokes the folk dance rhythms of Poland’s Tatra highlanders? Two further highlights are the Ellington number given the Stéphane Grappelli/Hot Club de France treatment, reminding us that Hope met the great French jazzer at the home of Yehudi Menuhin, his childhood mentor (Hope virtually lived in the Menuhin house when he was growing up); and best of all – a discovery for this reviewer – ‘Alla tarantella’, No 5 from Five Pieces for string quartet (1923) by Ervín Schulhoff (1894-1942). There are other treasures, all led by this charismatic musician with great verve and style in a hugely enjoyable and imaginative programme delivered with all of Hope’s customary panache.