In the slow movement of his Cello Concerto, Dvořák quotes from his song ‘Lasst mich allein’, a favourite of his sister-in-law Josefina Kaunic, who died while the concerto was being written. A cello transcription of the song by Christian Poltéra therefore makes a fitting and touching envoi to this programme, in which Poltéra and Kathryn Stott play several works that were either composed or arranged for cello by Dvořák himself, and a number of others for which Poltéra has detected the cello’s potential.

Chief among these is the G major Violin Sonatina, which works particularly well in its new baritone and tenor register. The meditative Larghetto assumes a mellower, more nostalgically autumnal quality, while the Scherzo and the outer movements, far from sacrificing any of their spirit and animation, gain in resonance. This attests to both the sensitive way in which Poltéra has adapted the music to the cello medium and to the deft and affectionate manner in which he plays it. So natural does the Sonatina sound on the cello that you wonder why Dvořák himself never thought of doing it. He did, however, recast a movement, retitled ‘Waldesruhe’ or ‘Silent Woods’, from the piano duet cycle From the Bohemian Forest, and he wrote an A major Polonaise for his cellist friend Alois Neruda and a G minor Rondo for Hanuš Wihan, the cellist who inspired the Concerto. These sit happily alongside Poltéra’s own arrangements, including a lovely ‘Song to the Moon’, in a recital of appealing warmth.