Although he is by no means unrepresented on disc, Alexander Knaifel (65 this year) is rather less familiar than others of his erstwhile Soviet colleagues. Like them, his music has undergone a considerable stylistic change, his earlier work – such as the opera The Canterville Ghost, which enjoyed a passing success at the BBC College Concerts in the early 1980s – evincing an electicism all but absent from that of his maturity. Both feature here, though to what extent Lamento (1967) was affected in its revision is unclear. What comes across is a steady progress from conflict to relative accord, with the final sequence of chords that withdraw into silence being in the nature of a benediction.

“Benediction” might well characterise Blazhenstva (1996), a setting of the Beatitudes written for the 70th birthday of Rostropovich, though how one might “interpret” this work is unclear (the absence of booklet-notes suggests Knaifel is keen to avoid interpretation as such). What is certain is the consistency of its evolution – from an opening section in which soprano and bass are accompanied by sparse piano chords, through one of slowly descending string harmonies and another where the choir expounds the text over undulating string chords, to a final section where the cello is gradually left alone in musing introspection. Whether Blazhenstva is music to be experienced once rather than to be heard repeatedly is for each listener to decide, though the quality of performance and recording make the experience an involving one.