Georg Anton (né Jiří Antonín) Benda (1722‑95) is perhaps best known today for Mozart’s approval of his melodramas – musical accompaniment to spoken dramatic recitation, a form he probably didn’t invent but did much to popularise. He migrated from his native Bohemia to the highly musical surroundings of the court of Frederick the Great, and then to Saxe-Gotha. It is his sacred and dramatic works that attract the lion’s share of comment in music reference works – a recording of his melodrama Medea was well received earlier this year (Coviello, 6/21) – although he was active in instrumental forms, too, and an inviting disc of symphonies (Sony, 7/16) is now joined by one of keyboard concertos from the indefatigable Howard Shelley.

It’s almost a commonplace to remark upon Shelley’s unstinting advocacy of all‑but-forgotten and sometimes rather inconsequential music. That’s to do Benda a disservice, however. While it’s hard to ascertain quite when these four works were composed, they sit parallel with the corresponding music of CPE Bach along the continuum between the twilight of the Baroque and the first efflorescence of the high Classical period. Opening movements unfold material that is closer to Mozart than to Bach père – although the agitated B minor Concerto contains some noticeably Baroque-tinted traits – while finales trip lightly and energetically. Benda is his own man, however, and themes that may not on their own terms have the rock-solid memorability of Mozart’s nevertheless often contain a rhythmic or harmonic twist that confirms beyond doubt his individuality.

Where these works really score, however, is in the slow movements, which have a richness and personality not often associated with the transitional music of the mid-18th century. These thus become the expressive fulcrum of each work; that of the F minor Concerto in particular deploys muted strings and a singing solo line to go to emotional places one might not have expected.