Detlev Glanert matured under the tutelage of Henze, and in three of the six works here he pays homage to his old teacher. In some ways Glanert adopted Henze’s career template – he lived in Italy for some years, writes in a Bergian post-tonal style and is Germany’s most often performed living opera composer – so the salute is unsurprising. Unfortunately, the results are decidedly lukewarm.

Elysion (2012) is the strongest work here, a three-movement piano quartet composed after Henze’s death (the title alludes to the Elysian Fields). Tradition is the watchword, and the discourse abounds in deft counterpoint and tonal inflections; the influence of Glanert’s music for solo voice, too, is clear in the lyrical cantabile phrasing on violin. Pas de quatre (2005 06), Glanert’s Second String Quartet, is based on four musical archetypes that Glanert associates with his mentor (scream, song, dance and escape). Despite a promising start and technically accomplished motivic development, the diverse parts never achieve a greater whole. More successful is the limpid Enigmatic Landscape (2001) for two pianos, all bobbing ostinatos and shimmering chords, an Apollonian rendering of the sun-kissed Italian landscape where Henze lived.

The other three works show a similar, unashamedly conservative approach to tradition. Noctambule (2008), a sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet, explores the night and dream subject familiar in Germanic art from Schubert to Sebald. Despite spirited performances and some moments of beauty, its drama is too academic to be compelling. Better are the Three Pieces for clarinet and piano (2003), a quasi-clarinet sonata, and the playful Dancing Landscape (2002), which is dedicated to Oliver Knussen and uses a four-note motif mimicking the colloquial version of the Englishman’s name.