Over the past dozen years or so, Christian Tetzlaff has made a number of outstanding recordings for Virgin Classics, and it was with keen anticipation that I approached his performance of the Sibelius Concerto. Here is a reading which, in its no-holds-barred fervour, reminds me more than most of the wild theatricality and solo fireworks one encounters in the Concerto’s original version.

All the same, I can’t help feeling these thoughtful artists try too hard to stand out from the crowd, with results that preclude total involvement. The slow movement especially is a little overcooked for my tastes, lacking the requisite nobility; the swaggering finale errs towards the uncomfortably macho (it pays to heed Sibelius’s qualifying ma non tanto marking). Tetzlaff is a gifted fiddler, but on this occasion he doesn’t match Cho-Liang Lin or Vadim Repin in terms of aristocratic poise and purity of intonation; nor is he flattered by the slightly recessed, diffuse sound. Something of a mixed bag, then, and not, I think, to be preferred to any of the digital rivals listed above.

It was an appealing idea to pair the Concerto with the rest of Sibelius’s output for violin and orchestra. The six Humoresques constitute an enchanting sequence, the solo writing full of caprice and understanding (the violin was the composer’s own instrument). Scarcely less luminous or alluring are the two diptychs, Op 69 and Op 77; the heartfelt ‘Cantique’ from the latter set casts a particularly strong spell. Only the innocuous Suite from 1929 fails to improve on repetition.

Happily, Tetzlaff and Dausgaard are more convincing here, masterminding performances of tender grace and wistful fantasy, though without necessarily supplanting in my personal affections Dong-Suk Kang (BIS, 2/91) and much-missed Ralph Holmes (Koch Schwann, nla) or, in the Humoresques alone, Aaron Rosand (Vox, 4/69R) and Salvatore Accardo (Philips, 10/80 – nla).