CPO has long been at the forefront of making the music of Franz Schreker accessible to listeners, four of his operas being available in the company’s catalogue as well as an earlier volume of orchestral works conducted by Steven Sloane. This makes it all the more puzzling that this second volume has waited more than a decade for release, especially since at least one of the performances here is an immediate top recommendation.

The Kammersymphonie, completed in 1916, makes imaginative and beguiling use of the sonorities provided by the relatively small forces required, albeit with the use of piano, celesta and harmonium. The model for the orchestration might well be Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, although Schreker had previously demonstrated his inventiveness in composing for chamber forces in the first version of his pantomime-ballet Der Geburtstag der Infantin in 1908. The playing of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra here is remarkably eloquent and the performance as a whole has an expressive charge that is immensely moving. I was greatly impressed by Christoph Eschenbach’s recording for DG last year, but this is if anything even finer.

The Vier kleine Stücke also enjoy well-played and characterful performances. The work was written for the publisher Heinrichshofen as an early example of film music, one of a series of commissions that also included Schoenberg’s Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene. The four pieces encompass a variety of moods during their brief 10-minute span and suggest Schreker might well have made a successful film composer had he lived longer.

The Vorspiel zu einem Drama, an extended version of the Prelude to Die Gezeichneten, represents Schreker’s music at its most opulent and extrovert. For some reason, Sloane’s interpretation here has an element of reserve that prevents the music from making its full effect. Vassily Sinaisky’s rich and impassioned recording for Chandos remains the top recommendation for this piece. Nevertheless, with two excellent performances and superb sound, this CPO release is a welcome addition to the Schreker discography.