Rarities galore on what is an uncommonly enterprising compendium, and at least one surprise: the first of the five movements that make up Delius’s Petite suite d’orchestre No 1 (1889‑90) – not to be confused with his three-movement Petite suite d’orchestre from 1890 – turns out to be a dry run for the captivating Marche caprice. This charming, deftly scored piece can boast a particularly fetching scherzo at its heart and precedes another apprentice offering, Holst’s Ornulf’s Drapa, a 10-minute scena for baritone and orchestra to a text drawn from Henrik Ibsen’s 1857 drama The Vikings at Helgeland. Initially completed in 1898 (Holst’s final year at the Royal College of Music) and overhauled two years later, it’s an enjoyably moody affair, whose unashamedly Wagnerian demeanour and shining apotheosis are relished to the max by Roderick Williams, who in turn receives admirably alert support from the BBC Concert Orchestra under John Andrews.

Williams and company also excel in the powerfully atmospheric setting of Keats’s La Belle Dame sans merci that Norman O’Neill (1875-1934) inscribed to the great English baritone – and no mean composer himself – Frederic Austin (1872-1952). Dating from 1908, the work was substantially revised for a January 1927 broadcast on the BBC. Luminously scored and building masterfully to a glowering peak, here’s a genuinely imaginative and most enticing canvas that invites and repays repeated hearings. Rewarding, too, is The Ballad of Fair Helen of Kirkconnel by Cyril Scott (1879-1970), the second of his three treatments of Walter Scott’s 1802 transcription (taken from Vol 2 of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border). The present orchestration is dated November 29, 1900; once again, Austin was the dedicatee. Interesting to learn that a young Thomas Beecham programmed this hauntingly beautiful orchestral song in his concert debut on June 5, 1905, at London’s Bechstein (now Wigmore) Hall. Suffice to say, these performers do it full justice, as they do Roger Quilter’s entrancing The Faithless Shepherdess (No 4 in his delectable sequence of Seven Elizabethan Lyrics, published in 1908). It certainly makes an ingratiating curtain-raiser here, although we do not know the identity of the arranger.

The origins of Havergal Brian’s characterful Legend (discovered among his papers after his death in 1972) remain shrouded in mystery. Writing in the booklet, soloist Rupert Marshall-Luck comments how this compact work’s structure ‘lends it a character of intensity which is complemented and heightened by the nature of its thematic material … the effect is one of organic change and development’. (He is also responsible for the shapely orchestration, following a commission from the Havergal Brian Society.) Andrews and his BBC band are understanding partners and likewise make a persuasive case for the noble Prelude to Act 1 of Colomba, the earliest of Alexander Mackenzie’s operas, first staged in 1883 by the Carl Rosa Company.

Summing up, any inquisitive soul who enjoys wandering off the beaten track needn’t hesitate. Truthful sound and copiously detailed presentation, too. A job well done!