The works of Nicola LeFanu (b1947) have not been overlooked in terms of recording, albeit often appearing with those by her mother Elizabeth Maconchy or husband David Lumsdaine. A Naxos release (4/05) gave a decent overview of her output for chamber ensemble, and this new NMC does likewise for her orchestral music stretching back over nearly half a century.

That LeFanu possesses an ear for finesse is evident from The Hidden Landscape (1973), with its oblique yet purposeful trajectory from the ominous, even confrontational to a gauntly imposing climax and expectant close. Even greater subtlety is found in Columbia Falls, seamlessly fusing diverse gestures before it reaches its almost cinematic culmination. If both these pieces exude a certain impersonal quality, the plangent immediacy of Threnody (2014) is never in doubt. Nor is that of The Crimson Bird (2017), described by the composer as a ‘concertante work’ in which John Fuller’s text charts a course from a mother’s contentment, through the violent onset of civil conflict then impassioned outcry in the absence of her son, to her ultimate lamentation via the cumulative force of the closing passacaglia. Throughout, Rachel Nicholls renders the powerfully rhetorical soprano part with unwavering conviction.

How astute to feature the premiere of the earliest piece under Norman Del Mar; and if that by Louis Frémaux of Columbia Falls would have been worthwhile in the City of Birmingham Symphony’s centenary, Colman Pearce is as perceptive here as Gavin Maloney in Threnody, and Ilan Volkov proves no less responsive in the title-work. Detailed annotations and a timely addition to the LeFanu discography, hopefully to be followed by one or other of her operas.