Born in Moscow in 1945, Vyacheslav Grokhovsky studied composition with Khachaturian and has had a number of his straightforward, well-crafted works recorded in Russia and the former Czechoslovakia. For anyone interested in the lighter side of Soviet music – pure entertainment, instant accessibility, references to familiar Russian repertoire, not a hint of irony – this disc should be just the thing.

The most rewarding piece, I would say, is the suite for piano and orchestra based on three Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. Musically, this is a kind of appendix to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, though without the running commentary and, it has to be said, without the edge of inspiration. The Enchanted Wanderer, ‘a Quixotic story of the Russian people seen through the eyes of an illiterate sage,’ also has its charming moments. In the Russian Caprice and Gypsy Rhapsody the writing, though always easy on the ear, is rather less characterful.

Performances are nicely perky, the composer’s brother Valery evidently relishing the effective piano writing, and the 1996 Moscow recordings are perfectly serviceable. Campion’s booklet is only minimally informative, not even supplying dates for the individual works; but bravo for its enterprise in uncovering this by-way in the Soviet repertoire.