Despite their varying titles and formats, the larger works here constitute Hindemith’s viola concertos Nos 1-3. Kammermusik No 5 (1927), still audibly a product of the enfant terrible of the early 1920s, already begins to hint at the later composer’s formal rigour, a conjunction of extremes carried further in the second of Hindemith’s much less well-known Konzertmusiken, scored for viola and large chamber orchestra (1930; the others comprise a suite for large wind band, a piano concerto with brass and harps and the diptych for strings and brass composed for the Boston Symphony’s 50th anniversary). In The Swan-turner (1935), Hindemith’s mature style – first heard in Das Unaufhörliche (1931) and writ large through Mathis der Maler (symphony and opera) – is fully realised.

Collections of the concertos (with or without Trauermusik of 1936) have been few and far between. Hyperion wisely avoids a chronological sequence, placing Konzertmusik first and Kammermusik last. Power’s affinity with Hindemith’s music is as evident in these new recordings as in previous instalments, his tone perfectly balanced between strength and delicacy, avoiding Cortese’s over-burnished sound, his being until now the finest collection and penetrating deeper to the music’s core than either Dean or Schmidt’s now ancient-sounding renditions on Koch Schwann. Hyperion’s beautifully natural recording is the best yet but it is the partnership with Atherton and the BBC Scottish that makes this such a rewarding listen; their performance of Kammermusik No 5 more than stands comparison with the best of the competition – Doktor and Kashkashian – and is swifter, too. Der Schwanendreher and the Konzertmusik really come alive and the icing is a touching Trauermusik which sounds like a newly discovered work. The new market leader, strongly recommended. Now, how about the viola d’amore works on Volume 4?