The most significant thing about Hyperion’s latest Romantic Piano Concerto instalment is its inclusion of Emil von Sauer’s Second Concerto (1901), three decades after Stephen Hough’s Gramophone Recording of the Year account of its predecessor (11/95) galvanised this project.

Its melting Cavatina aside, Sauer’s First Concerto was admittedly overshadowed by Xaver Scharwenka’s imposing Fourth Concerto as the coupling, but its follow-up is something else again – right from the affecting cor anglais melody that provides the theme for what is a set of variations across four continuous movements. This comprises a thoughtful Allegro, an animated scherzo with folk inflections, a ‘song without words’ Andante of accumulating pathos, then an eventful final Allegro drawing the overall sequence to its scintillating (whether musically or technically) conclusion. Simon Callaghan’s advocacy presents this in the best possible light.

Not that Carl Reinecke’s Third Concerto (1877) is an also-ran. As Jeremy Nicholas indicates in his detailed and enthusiastic notes, it was highly regarded at the time – not least because of its confiding initial gesture by the soloist, modelled on if not beholden to that of Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto, which reappears at defining junctures in the initial Allegro then returns for a subdued close (an alternate version with its more predictable loud ending can be downloaded, but Reinecke got it right first time). The central Largo has a winsome elegance and the final Allegro never confuses virtuosity with vacuity. More conventional display comes in the outer Allegro sections of the Konzerstück (c1853), its hymnlike Lento exuding the requisite poise.

In the Sauer, Callaghan’s verve and insight along with a laudable response from the St Gallen forces under Modestas Pitrėnas make this version preferable to that by Oleg Marshev (whose six-volume survey remains the touchstone for this composer). As in their accounts of his other concertos (2/23), the Reinecke probes deeper than those fluent yet detached readings by Klaus Hellwig whereas, in the Konzerstück, Andrea Kauten’s winning spontaneity remains supreme. Overall, however, this new release is the most valuable recent addition to an estimable series.