Peter Seabourne (b1960) studied with Robin Holloway at Cambridge University in the early 1980s, and an entire disc of music for solo horn – albeit featuring two horn quartets – might seem a curious way to pair them on disc. However, when the works are performed as dazzlingly as they are here, the result is simply a joy. Ondřej Vrabec’s virtuosity is certainly put to the test here but he does not put a finger – or tongue! – wrong.

Seabourne’s brief, vibrant fanfare Mille fiori (2011) provides a sonically spectacular opening. Its quartet of horn players, led by Vrabec, are heard to deeper effect musically in Holloway’s moving Lament, a fine example of an occasional piece (for two horns, 2013) rethought as a more substantial composition (2019). Encounters for two horns (2019), in which he partners Hana Sapáková, is a suite of five engaging miniatures, each taking its cue from a fragment of music by Holloway; the Scherzo is a particular delight. The Black Pegasus (2018), where Mio Sakamoto provides the impeccable accompaniment, is a single, dramatic movement, inspired by a painting by Odilon Redon.

Most impressive, though, are the unaccompanied works, in which Vrabec’s playing shines brightest. The five movements in each of Holloway’s two Partitas of 1985 follow Bachian forms (Courante, Gavotte, Musette, Loure, Gigue), but there is nothing Baroque or pastiche in the resulting music. Each was tailored to the playing styles of their dedicatees: Barry Tuckwell in No 1, John Kerrigan in the sequel. By contrast, Seabourne’s amusing Julie Dances (2019) derives from photographs of Vrabec’s young daughter and are based on English nursery rhymes. Sheva’s sound is marvellous; a model of (crystal) clarity.