The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto was one of the first works Joshua Bell recorded for Decca back in 1988 (now reissued on a double-CD). His brilliant new live version is freer, more volatile and even more affectionate than his studio account. Speeds tend to be a degree faster (if not as fast as Perlman’s in his dazzling performance), though he takes more than 30 seconds longer than before in the first movement cadenza, confidently sustaining longer pauses and giving a greater sense of improvisation.

In the central Canzonetta he is even more tender and individual in his phrasing, despite a more closely balanced sound, and he achieves a genuine pianissimo without using a mute; Perlman, persuasive as he is, does not play nearly as quietly. In the reprise of the main theme Bell is more delicate than in the earlier version and in the finale he opens up the brief, traditional cuts he made before, an obvious advantage. A marginally faster speed produces a more exciting result.

The coupling is valuable, particularly as the Méditation was originally designed as the Concerto’s slow movement and comes as usual in Glazunov’s orchestration. The ‘Danse russe’ from Swan Lake is an attractive makeweight, recorded, like the Méditation in studio sessions around the time of the Concerto performance.