Blu-ray, the latest advance in technology, can be sampled in this audio issue by the Trondheim Soloists, directed with much warmth and sensitivity by Øyvind Gimse. The alternative discs are both recorded in so-called “digital eXtreme definition”, one needing special reproducing equipment, the other mastered as a hybrid CD. Played using front and back speakers the result is very impressive indeed and offers some of the most realistic string sound I have heard on SACD.

The Trondheim Soloists, an ensemble of up of up to 20 or so musicians, play in a circular group, so that one can enjoy these performances in concert-hall fashion (when the warm yet clear acoustic resonance could not be bettered) or, by bringing up the volume of the back speakers, one can rather engagingly sit in the middle of the performers. The dynamic range is realistically and often excitingly wide (without being overwhelming), detail is remarkable in its glowing clarity, and the string sound itself is faithful, from the clear, tutti violins to the sumptuous cellos, underpinned by bold double bass sonorities.

As for the playing, it is of the highest calibre, effectively capturing the rather endearing scalic simplicity of Bjørklund’s Carmina, the incisive Bartók allegros, the hauntingly restless, pianissimo opening of the unpredictable Bacewicz Andante and the piano-pianissimo murmur of the opening of the Adagio of the Bartók Divertimento. The latter is also particularly strong in the outer movements, lucid, full of character with much variety of dynamic and passionate feeling in its vital folk-derived influences.

But my demonstration recording is the superbly alive performance of the Britten Simple Symphony, making it sound a much more ambitious work than usual. The contrapuntal interplay of the “Boisterous Bourrée” is freshly elegant and the “Playful Pizzicato”, if perhaps not quite as light-hearted as Britten’s own recording, nevertheless strums the “Boys and girls come out to play” theme with bold bouncing vigour. The following “Sentimental Sarabande” renounces sentimentality for a delicately warm romanticism with the most beautiful pianissimo sustained in the “Sweet Genevieve” theme and a rapturously gentle coda. The “Frolicsome Finale” has all the dash you could want. With the orchestra splendidly balanced, this is first-class in every way – even the light-blue packaging is stylishly inviting.