The Hebrew word nigun (plural nigunim) means ‘tune’ or ‘melody’ in the form of an instrumental improvisation, secular or religious, fast or slow. This collection is the result of the determination, at the end of the 19th century, of composers such as Joseph Achron to gather folk material from their Jewish heritage and incorporate it into their music – with rich results. The only familiar items here are Achron’s Hebrew Melody (which both violinist and pianist remember their grandparents singing in their home in Jerusalem), Bloch’s Baal Shem (subtitled ‘Three Pictures of Hassidic Life’) and the three pieces from John Williams’s score for the film Schindler’s List. But a strong Hebrew flavour pervades every item here, each of which alternates sultry Jewish lyrical melodies with fierce virtuosity.

Gil Shaham plays both spectacularly and tenderly, and his accompanist sister, Orli Shaham, matches him closely in lyrical feeling and spontaneous bravura. The programme launches spectacularly with Josef Bonime’s Danse hébraïque but Avner Dorman’s four-movement Violin Sonata then shows how it is possible to create an impressively wide-ranging work from such folksy material. It opens with a haunting pianissimo, which dynamic is to return in the Adagio, and incorporates a vibrantly infectious Scherzo and finale.

However, my favourite item was Achron’s Two Hebrew Pieces, Op 35, the ‘Lullaby’ utterly seductive and the ‘Hebrew Dance’ quite dazzling. Of course, John Williams’s ‘Theme from Schindler’s List’ is instantly memorable too, and so are the other two comparatively extended items from his score – the Andante, which pictures the Ghetto in Kraków in the winter of 1941, followed by the more cheerful ‘Remembrances’, all three excerpts providing characterful contributions from the pianist. The programme ends with superb account of Ernest Bloch’s Baal Shem, splendidly catching the changing mood of the three movements, ‘Contrition’, ‘Improvisation’ and the giocoso finale ‘Rejoicing’. All the performances are of the highest quality, sparkling with virtuosity, touching in their eloquence, and the recording is first-class. If you like Hebrew music, this is not to be missed.