Vieuxtemps’s violin concertos are slowly getting the attention they deserve – on disc, at least – with Hyperion and Naxos issuing between them recordings of the five best (Nos 1-5) over the past year, not to mention the outstanding complete set of all seven concertos which I welcomed last October.

Despite its opus number, Concerto No 2 was written four years before Concerto No 1, in 1836. Its traditional three movements together last 21'34", not quite as long as just the first movement of Op 10, a work that extends to over 40 minutes. As noted in my Fuga Libera review, at the premiere of Concerto No 1 the orchestral exposition earned the composer an ovation before he had played a note. Chloë Hanslip and the indefatigable Martyn Brabbins do not generate the same frisson as the Liège players (the brass section is reined in and the acoustic of Antwerp’s deSingel is less generous to the orchestral bloom than the Salle Philharmonique in Liège). These rhythmically taut, meticulously executed performances are cautious in comparison, though few will be able to resist Hanslip’s deliciously coquettish handling of the rondo movements of both concertos.

Again, Mischa Keylin (Naxos) offers a more extrovert view of Hyperion’s bonus track, Greeting to America, written for Vieuxtemps’s tour of the US in 1843-44 (not to be confused with his better-known Variations burlesque sur ‘Yankee Doodle’). In brief, for a single disc of these works there is no competition but the alternatives have the edge on the newcomer.