Now in his sixties and long resident in the UK, Lyell Cresswell has retained strong links with his native New Zealand. These technically expert recordings were made there in 2007, and Kaea (1997), the earliest composition included, is an explicit celebration of one musical aspect of that country’s culture.

Using a modern trombone to evoke “the Maori wooden war trumpet used to terrify enemies and raise alarms”, Kaea promises the kind of musical ritual that shines a bracingly contemporary light on the primitive, the archetypal. Precedents are not hard to find: but the routines Cresswell sets up suggest incidental music for a ritual rather than the ritual itself. In the 20-minute score’s more active episodes the solo line uses repeated figures and glissandos that depend for their effect on the extreme contrast provided by the work’s more static phases rather than on their own inherent musical memorability. Lack of arresting material, and of engaging musical processes, is also a problem in Alas! How Swift, a scherzo for trumpet and orchestra from 2006 whose title is taken from the inscription on a Scottish sundial, but which suggests simple busyness rather than something more metaphysical.

The Voice Inside (2001) and Cassandra’s Songs (2003) consist almost entirely of settings of texts by Cresswell’s favoured Scottish lyricist Ron Butlin. Big issues are involved, and moods range from tragic and reflective to witty meditations on music and violin-playing: The Voice Inside is described as “a concerto for violin, soprano and orchestra”. Madeleine Pierard sings attractively and (for once) all the words are included in the Naxos booklet.