Heritage and training play significant roles in Kinga Augustyn’s remarkable recording of unaccompanied violin works by 20th- and 21st-century composers. The Polish-born musician, who studied at the Juilliard School and lives in New York City, performs pieces by compatriots Grażyna Bacewicz and Krzysztof Penderecki alongside works by American composers Elliott Carter and Debra Kaye and two other contemporary masters, Luciano Berio and Isang Yun.

The album draws its title from Kaye’s Turning in Time, an expressive amalgam of Baroque and modern elements, including jazzy gestures, that are seamlessly woven together. The narrative somehow leads (spoiler alert) to the pinnacle of solo violin repertoire, the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No 2. In this premiere recording, Augustyn plays with vibrant intensity, caressing the phrases and bringing bold focus to the eclectic unfolding of creativity.

She is equally compelling in the remaining fare, which encompasses a spectrum of contemporary techniques and styles. Carter’s Four Lauds (1984-2000) pay tribute to friends and colleagues Aaron Copland, Roger Sessions, Goffredo Petrassi, Robert Mann, Ole Bøhn and Rolf Schulte, as the composer noted, in spiky, poetic flights to which Augustyn brings pinpoint clarity and gleaming sonority. Berio’s Sequenza VIII grips attention as the violinist keenly balances the music’s violence and tenderness.

Penderecki’s brief, eloquent Capriccio, in another first recording, gives way to Bacewicz’s Sonata No 2, a bounty of virtuoso writing – the composer was a superb violinist – that pulsates with adventurous spirit, compassion and warmth. Augustyn is in full command of the varied aspects of these works, as she is of Yun’s Königliches Thema, based on the theme from Bach’s A Musical Offering, which melds bustling 12-tone quips with Baroque musings.