Hindemith’s cycle to Rilke’s 15 poems has not received attention in the studio to match its critical standing. There are three distinct versions, the first (1922-23) by the enfant terrible of Sancta Susanna, the second – more popular with singers and audiences – a recomposition created piecemeal during 1936-48 by the craftsman of Nobilissima visione. In 1939 and 1959 Hindemith orchestrated six of the recomposed songs as a fine if undervalued subset.

Recordings of any version are few and far between, with the best currently out of circulation: Roxolana Roslak’s of the 1923 version accompanied by Gould (Sony), that of 1948 by Gundula Janowitz, partnered by Gage (Jecklin). The 1948 version has fared better with Annelies Kupper’s dating from January 1949, two months after she and Carl Seemann had premiered it. Kellock and Carno’s two-disc set, enterprisingly featuring both versions, was recorded to mark the composer’s centenary. Full marks, then, to Meyer-Topsøe and Salo for tackling it now.

What strikes the ear first is Danacord’s superior sound quality: the finest these songs have received. The darker colours in Meyer-Topsøe’s voice are ideally suited to Hindemith’s intense lyricism, although in its upper registers she does sound strained – but then so did Janowitz: this is no easy sing and this new account is better focused and better sung than Kupper’s pioneering account. Meyer-Topsøe does not quite match Janowitz in range of expression but Jecklin’s sound (from 1982) is markedly inferior. No one has equalled Mattila (who recorded the orchestral set long ago for Finlandia – nla) for beauty of tone, but until she records the cycle as a whole or Janowitz’s is reissued, this will do very nicely, especially with Per Salo as such a sympathetic and strong accompanist.