To those of us who know the Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) chiefly though his organ music (the Sonata eroica and the magnificent Symphonie concertante), these three violin works written in his twenties will come as surprises. Strongly tonal and lyrical, Jongen’s chief influences seem to be Richard Strauss and César Franck (even if I kept thinking ‘Chausson: Poème’ for much of the time; certainly if you like that you’ll like the Jongen pieces).

Philippe Graffin begins with the earliest work here, the Fantasia in E major from 1898. It has a gorgeous honeyed melody as its main subject. A better title might have given it wider currency. The more amorphous Adagio symphonique from three years later comes from the same stable, with the soloist flying high over a rich orchestral texture. It is this characteristic that is most evident in the three movements of the Violin Concerto. Written in 1900 for his friend the violinist Emile Chaumont (1878-1942), it was dedicated, when finally published in 1914, to Eugène Ysaÿe, an admirer of Jongen’s music but who seems not to have been taken with it. Perhaps its meandering, rhapsodic manner, like a long act of love making without a satisfactory conclusion, made it an insufficiently effective vehicle. The premiere was given in Paris the same year by Charles Herman (another Belgian violinist) and after that pretty much forgotten.

The substantial (16'52") makeweight is the Rapsodie in E minor by Sylvio Lazzari (1857-1944), written in 1922 but in very much the same language as Jongen. My one reservation is Graffin’s place in the sound balance. His tender, slender tone in softer passages is one of the disc’s main attractions but is not sufficiently brilliant to match with equal vigour the full might of the orchestra.