Sometimes I wonder if by tailoring his solo sonatas to fit the styles of six very different violinists Eugene Ysaÿe was acting as the ultimate critic, describing his subjects with musical illustrations rather than mere words: the winking appoggiaturas, for example, in the finale of the piece dedicated to Kreisler (No 4), which Thomas Zehetmair throws off with a mere flick of the wrist, or the rich chord structures of the First Sonata. Its dedicatee, Joseph Szigeti, was a great Bach player and Bach is a particularly strong presence, the key (G minor) and language so reminiscent of his first solo sonata.

Again, the Jacques Thibaud piece, No 2 in A minor, has obsessive repetitions of the Prelude from Bach’s E major Partita, played initially by Zehetmair with the lightest touch, though later repetitions gain in intensity. The sinister melding of Bach with the ‘Dies irae’ chant has to be one of the canniest masterstrokes of the period. There are stylistic parallels between the Second Sonata and the Fourth, just as there were similarities between the players themselves.

The spicy Sixth Sonata recalls the Spanish fiddler Manuel Quiroga and takes on Latin influences, initially suggesting Ravel’s Tzigane (composed at around the same time, though the similarity is probably coincidental) before shifting, a little later, to habañera mode.

As the ultimate thinking virtuoso, Zehetmair is an ideal interpreter of these pieces, delving between the notes, coaxing a wealth of colour, inflection and dynamic shading from each score, always with acute imagination. He is both explorer and demonstrator, his modes of attack as varied as his tone colouring.

As to available rivals, the younger Benjamin Schmid also ‘thinks’ through these pieces – and so, in his more formal way, does Leonidas Kavakos. Philippe Graffin is strong on finesse, Oscar Shumsky a warming throwback to the Auer school. And the newest contender, Ilya Kaler, is forthright and vibrant but in comparison with Zehetmair just a little stiff. Viewed overall, Zehetmair’s new disc is the current front-runner, the best possible showcase for some marvellous if still undervalued music.