Richard Bratby was little short of bowled over by Jennifer Pike and Petr Limonov’s first volume of music by Polish composers (2/19), his only regret being that the programme wasn’t crowned ‘with one of the big Szymanowski pieces’. Well, here that piece is – the Violin Sonata in D minor, full of the personality, sensuality and security that characterised the earlier disc.

RB identified the ‘glistening, succulent sweetness’ of Pike’s tone. It’s not an icing-sugar sweetness, though, but rather a rich caramel, with a good hit of salt to bring out the full effect of the complex flavours of Szymanowski’s remarkably confident student sonata. The Berceuse d’Aïtacho Enia, named after the villa occupied by its dedicatee, the Boston heiress Dorothy Jordan Robinson, distils further the Debussian sensuousness of the sonata, while Szymanowski’s personal approach to harmony enlivens a trio of transcriptions of Paganini caprices – including an idiosyncratic set of variations on the ubiquitous Caprice No 24.

Equal to the Szymanowski in scale and ambition is the Sonata, also in D minor, by Poldowski – the pseudonym of the remarkable Irène Régine Wieniawska, daughter of Henryk Wieniawski and wife of a minor aristocrat, to whom she was introduced by Dame Nellie Melba, no less. Perhaps the rubric is stretched a little far here: despite her Polish parentage, Poldowski was born in Brussels and spent much time in Paris and London – indeed, the other available recording of the sonata is on a disc called ‘British Women Composers’ (Naxos). Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile discovery, combining a fine-tuned melodic sensibility with an ear-catching way with harmony.

With the bonus of a delicious Tango by Poldowski and an unaccompanied Polish Caprice by (the echt Polish) Grażyna Bacewicz, this follow-up is just as ravishing as its predecessor. Limonov provides authoritative piano support for Pike and her 1708 Goffriller in the sympathetic surroundings of Potton Hall.