The Peter Dickinson discography has increased substantially in the wake of his 80th birthday, and those having acquired the various Heritage releases will certainly want this latest disc of (mainly) early chamber works. Right from the outset, Dickinson was a master of economy – hence the ‘less is more’ piquancy of the Recorder Sonatina, the deftly controlled rhetoric of the Threnody for cello and the pensive elegance of the Fantasy for clarinet (all 1956). Incremental expansion of his musical idiom saw such engaging pieces as the pithy Four Duos (1962) and meaningful virtuosity of the Bassoon Sonatina (1966, amazingly not performed until 2014).

Most substantial here is Translations (1971): more than a memento from that brief but heady era when authenticity did not preclude contemporaneity, the interplay of recorder, gamba and harpsichord fuses elements of aleatoricism and jazz in its quixotic variations on a melody of archetypal simplicity. An altogether warmer persona is evident in the Lullaby (1967) derived from a projected opera and performed in versions for clarinet with piano and solo piano; the latter, poetically, is rendered by Dickinson, who duly rounds out this selection with his laconic Waltz for Elliott Schwartz and a wryly wistful Blues for Frieda, Lady Berkeley (both 2016).

Performances, by a roster of artists often associated with this composer, leave nothing to be desired in terms of finesse or commitment and have been persuasively recorded. Dickinson contributes booklet annotations as succinct as they are informative and one can only look forward to the follow-up disc of his chamber music due from Prima Facie later this year.