This latest Danacord issue is designed as a memorial tribute to the great Danish cellist Erling Blöndahl Bengtsson, who died last June. These three items were recorded by Icelandic Radio and have never appeared before. The recordings were made live, adding vividness and intensity, and though they were recorded over a period of almost 10 years, the quality is remarkably consistent.

The Kabalevsky is the more approachable of his two cello concertos, and though it cannot match the memorability of his piano works it is cleanly laid out and easily rhythmic, in compound time in the first movement and gently lyrical in the central slow movement. The finale brings chattering themes leading to a big, effective climax just before the end. Not just Bengtsson but the Icelandic players give warmly committed performances.

The glorious Mendelssohn Cello Sonata brings the gem of the collection, for Bengtsson and his pianist, Anker Blyme, demonstrate throughout that this is a ‘feel-good’ work, with its first movement in an exhilarating compound time that sticks in the memory, before the second movement in a lightly tripping Allegretto two-in-a-bar. The Adagio slow movement is relatively brief, with its spread chords for the piano, before the chattering Allegro of the finale.

It would be idle to suppose that the unaccompanied Suite en concert by André Jolivet comes near to matching the other two works but its improvisation-like paragraphs are beautifully played by Bengtsson, with total commitment. Plainly this is music designed to please the cellist.

Altogether, a fitting memorial to a cellist who for Danacord over the years recorded virtually all the most important cello works in the repertory, including the cello concertos of Dvořák, Elgar and Walton.