In 1998 Olympia issued a fascinating CD of works by three generations of the Tcherepnin family: grandfather (Nikolai), father (Alexander) and son (Ivan). Now Chandos has issued a similar disc devoted to the Kapps, featuring an overture by Artur (1878-1952), a ballet suite by his son Eugen (1908‑96) and a symphony by Artur’s nephew Villem (1913‑64) who, like Eugen, was a pupil of Artur.

Composed shortly before his graduation from the St Petersburg Conservatory, Artur’s Don Carlos (1899) is a concert overture after the manner of Tchaikovsky and a remarkable achievement for a first orchestral essay, full of poetry and concise in structure. Like Verdi’s opera, it is based on Schiller. The subject of Eugen’s ballet Kalevipoeg (1947) is no less than Estonia’s national epic, the story of a giant whose exploits encompass the heroic and violent. The six-movement suite given here is a popular concert item and encapsulates the essence of the larger work, though its slightly folksy, chocolate-box idiom masks the epic’s nastier elements, much as Grieg’s music did with Peer Gynt.

Villem’s Second (1954‑55) is an almost textbook Russian symphony, four movements in a bright, nationalist style perfect as a product of the 1890s but deeply anachronistic 60 years later. An attractive, well argued work, nonetheless. Splendid sound and performances throughout.