Julian Steckel, winner of many prizes, has studied under Heinrich Schiff, among others, and has also been principal cellist of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marek Janowski. Here he shows his mettle and musicianship very impressively in three contrasted Jewish concertante works, creating a firm, warmly full-bodied tone and easy virtuosity. He is absolutely at home in Bloch’s richly lyrical and hauntingly languorous Schelomo, with its prayerful Semitic harmonic flavour, and here Daniel Raiskin brings out the detail of the colourful accompaniment very tellingly, firmly holding the orchestral tension over which the soloist soliloquises.

Korngold’s Concerto is Hollywood-inspired but none the worse for that, as it features a totally memorable lyrical theme (which Steckel relishes). It was originally intended for the Bette Davis film Deception, which featured a six-minute performance of a cello concerto as its dramatic centrepiece. The Concerto, still in a single movement, was expanded to 12 minutes for concert performance, and very effective it is.

But it is in the Goldschmidt Concerto that Steckel has the opportunity to deliver real virtuosity in the brilliantly jaunty final Tarantella, and once again Daniel Raiskin and the excellent Rheinische Orchestra rise to the occasion. They draw out the immediate appeal of the second-movement Caprice mélancolique, followed by the haunting Quasi sarabande, where the lyrically intense cello-playing is again memorable. The recording is well balanced within a spacious acoustic which, overall, is quite enticing.