Brahms’s Op 34 already exists in more than one form: most famously as the turbulent Piano Quintet but also as a starker, bleaker Sonata for two pianos. In addition, it was initially conceived as a string quintet – and was reverse-engineered back to that form by Anssi Karttunen on the first volume of Toccata’s ‘Brahms by Arrangement’ (10/12). Nevertheless, as Robin Holloway reminds us, despite its persistent chamber dimensions the work is ‘potentially symphonic, in size, scope, ambition, depth of feeling and breadth of technique’.

Holloway’s orchestral realisation of Op 34 (specifically the two-piano version) has been around for a while but this is its first recording, deriving from BBC Maida Vale sessions that were broadcast earlier this year. Holloway doesn’t limit himself to Brahms’s resources or techniques – he adds a cor anglais and a contrabassoon, and writes for multiply divided strings and chromatic brass – but that’s perhaps necessary to deal with Brahms’s dense and knotty 20-fingered writing. Some of the instrumentation seems instinctive, such as the distribution between oboe and clarinet of the lyrical melody at 0'54" in the first movement; some is delightfully counter-intuitive, such as the muted brass in the development at 8'20".

One suspects that the necessarily rehearse-record nature of the project has led to the occasional sense of the music’s propulsion being held in check; the Scherzo especially feels frustratingly reined-in at times when compared with, for example, Martha Argerich going at it hell-for-leather in any one of at least three official recordings of the sonata. The finale, though, is notably successful, Holloway’s response to the ambiguity of its shifting moods leading to a performance of impressive drive and confidence.

The other works are Holloway’s orchestrations of Brahms’s piano-duet variations on Schumann’s ‘last musical idea’ (the theme of the Geistervariationen), its sound world coming close to the St Antoni Variations and even (in the minor-key Var 4) the First Symphony; and Schumann’s own Canonic Studies, behind whose prosaic title lies a sextet of miniatures of winning charm. Occasional untucked corners in the performances lead one to hope that these works – especially the sonata-symphony – will be granted the opportunity to mature in the concert hall. One prays, too, that Toccata (or anyone) will champion more of Holloway’s music, not least the Symphony commissioned for the Proms in 2000 – premiered then but shamefully never once revived. His 80th birthday later this year could be the ideal opportunity.