Daniel Müller-Schott’s discography already includes many peaks of the cello repertoire, so the addition of the Dvořák Concerto fills a significant gap. It’s a very fine performance, with all the technical challenges easily surmounted, and full of searching expressive detail. Of other recent recordings, Alisa Weilerstein’s provides an illuminating comparison. She has the special advantage of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Jiří Bělohlávek as accompanists; by their side the polished, beautifully balanced playing of the NDR orchestra lacks something of the Czechs’ natural vitality (a good example being the trumpets in the first-movement tuttis). With slightly faster tempi and a lighter, more volatile style, Weilerstein brings the music vividly to life, but there’s no doubt that Müller-Schott, with his thoughtfully varied articulations and tone colours, digs more deeply into the concerto’s expressive detail, in particular bringing out the sense of yearning that’s such a powerful aspect of the music. And his announcement of the finale’s main theme has a rhythmic strength that few cellists have equalled.

The contrast with Weilerstein continues with the Rondo in G minor and the arrangements – Müller-Schott darker and more profound in the Rondo and Silent Woods, while Weilerstein’s verve and elegance give her the edge in the Slavonic Dance and ‘Songs my mother taught me’ (this last a simpler, more tasteful transcription).

The four Romantic Pieces are an especial pleasure – as effective on cello and piano as with violin, at least in this beautiful performance, in which the elegiac finale piece really benefits from the cello’s deeper tones.