From the evidence on this and Oliver Triendl and friends’ previous disc of Josef Labor’s chamber music (Capriccio, 12/19), the composer knew his craft. No, his melodic ideas aren’t all consistently arresting, but they are largely unpredictable and often feature phrases of irregular lengths, as in the Tempo di minuetto of the D minor Violin Sonata (1891), with its primary theme made up of two uneven phrases – one of four bars and a second of six. Labor’s ability to develop his material can be impressive, too, as it is in the same sonata’s tautly wound, richly textured finale, with its changeable mood and often slippery harmonies (try, say, starting at 3'15"). And yet there are instances peppered throughout this sonata where one can almost hear the effort put into the music’s workmanship.

Happily, any such hints of, um, laboriousness are almost entirely absent from both the Cello Sonata in A (1895) and the Theme and Variations (1896) for horn and piano. Indeed, the latter is an especially lovely work. Listen, for instance, to how Labor presents pregnant fragments of the theme in an evocative introduction before giving us the broadly arching theme itself, and then how effectively he varies the mood to create a sense of building narrative momentum. The Cello Sonata is similarly full of felicities. The opening, for example, begins in diatonic purity (there’s no note foreign to A major until the 10th bar, and not another until the 18th), and yet around 0'38" it drifts away and wanders so far afield that when we suddenly slip into the second subject (in smiling E major), it’s an event. Labor’s tonal playfulness and obvious joy in thwarting expectations continues through to the sonata’s end, and I’m frankly surprised that neither this work nor the Variations have previously found any real traction.

Hopefully, these unfailingly eloquent performances will inspire others to add these works to their repertory; I’d be delighted to bump into either on a recital programme.