Paul Kletzki enjoyed a burgeoning career as a composer and conductor in 1920s Berlin. His 1928 Violin Concerto was widely played before 1933, when he was forced to leave Germany, moving first to Italy, then Switzerland. His German publisher destroyed his compositions and Kletzki’s personal copies, stored in a Milan bank vault, were thought to have been lost in a bombing raid, only to turn up when the bank’s site was redeveloped in the 1960s.

This first recording reveals a large-scale, virtuoso work, brilliantly scored and full of striking ideas. There are many beautiful passages yet, to my ears, the music fails to develop into a compelling narrative. There’s an issue of stylistic identity, too: the opening bars suggest Brahms; other places move towards 1920s objectivity or Straussian sensuality. However, the mixture is an intriguing one, especially in the finale, with its suggestions of cabaret music.

Robert Davidovici gives a strong, confident performance of all three works (barring occasional uncomfortable moments in some double-stopped passages in the Kletzki), and he’s very well supported by the RPO. The orchestral sound is splendid and, inspired by Nowak, the players give an air of eagerness and enthusiasm. It’s a recording to be recommended, then, though if your main interest is the Szymanowski, I’d suggest you investigate Thomas Zehetmair’s performance with Rattle and the CBSO; they bring out all the work’s subtleties, with Zehetmair more eloquent in his projection of the melodic lines.