No sooner had I finished praising to the skies Frank Peter Zimmermann’s wonderful new account of Hindemith’s great Violin Concerto than along comes another fine modern recording. Midori’s view of the work is not markedly different from the two benchmark accounts, Oistrakh’s and Zimmermann’s, and is preferable to Gertler, Fuchs et al if only through superior recording quality. However, her account does not quite reach this level and the intonation between her and the orchestra seems slightly edgy at times.

The concerto is coupled with two of Hindemith’s finest orchestral works. The Symphonic Metamorphosis (1940 43) has proved one of Hindemith’s most enduringly popular compositions and its subtlety and mastery of construction is in direct inverse ratio to the clumsiness of its full title. The expertise of the instrumental and sectional writing almost makes it Hindemith’s third orchestral concerto – and more brilliant than either predecessor. The NDR players audibly relish its challenges and élan; they may not quite be Abbado’s LSO or Sawallisch’s Philadelphia Orchestra but theirs is a highly engaging version. It does not displace the Järvi account (issued with the Weber source pieces) in my affections, however.

Concluding the disc is the bracing Konzertmusik for string orchestra and brass instruments (1929 30), written for Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the last work to which Hindemith assigned the title Concert Music and, indeed, an opus number. This vigorous diptych, written in the composer’s then still-emerging symphonic style, constitutes a way station along the path to the oratorio Das Unaufhörliche and the opera (and symphony) Mathis der Maler. Eschenbach has its measure and, while the composer’s version remains first choice, with Belohlávek’s a strong rival, this is wholly satisfying.