Winner of the 12th Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, Johannes Moser is one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists. Here he offers a comprehensive collection of the works that Saint-Saëns wrote for cello and orchestra: not only the two concertos (one relatively early, the other late), but also the early Op 16 Suite and two tiny pieces (Allegro appassionato, Op 43, and Romance, Op 36), plus Le cygne – arguably the most beautiful cello melody ever written.

Hearing the two concertos in succession brings it home how much more inspired the First is, with its thrillingly dramatic opening. Moser plays it with overwhelming passion, while firmly controlling tempo and intonation. One slight shortcoming is that Hänssler provide rather too few tracks, with the First Concerto allotted only one, even though there is a clear separation of the delicate Minuet in the middle, before the recapitulation begins.

Moser plays the Second Concerto (allotted two tracks) with clarity and bite, the drama of the first movement beautifully contrasted with the hushed Andante sostenuto that follows. The second major section opens with a vigorous moto perpetuo with dashing semiquavers, which Moser plays with ideal definition. Yet even he can’t disguise the fact that the invention is not as memorable as that in the First Concerto.

French conductor Fabrice Bollon proves the most sympathetic accompanist, not just in the concertos but also in the sequence of genre pieces that make up the Suite, and in the three shorter items culminating in Le cygne, exquisitely played by Moser with intensity but no exaggeration.