The four sonatas for solo cello are the most immediately captivating of the series of 12 for solo string instruments that Weinberg composed from 1960 until his death. They were inspired, so it seems, by Rostropovich – the dedicatee of the First Sonata – who later turned against Weinberg, possibly disappointed by the latter’s refusal to declare solidarity with the cellist’s support for Solzhenitsyn. The First Sonata stands up remarkably well alongside Britten’s First Suite (also Op 72, coincidentally) – as I have witnessed myself in concert. And while the asperity level in the later sonatas can be daunting at times, there is no doubt that the four of them as a whole are among the finest contributions to the genre since Bach.

Marina Tarasova has already given us a first-rate recording of the 24 Preludes alongside the Cello Concertino (12/18), and her follow-up disc is no less impressive. Her playing is generous in tone, full-blooded in expression, passionate and confident, evidently fired by love for and commitment to the music. She comes up against the premiere recordings, originally on Olympia but now available again on Naxos, by Latvian-born Joseph Feigelson, who is a touch cooler and more sparing with his vibrato. Both approaches are perfectly valid, but if forced to choose, I might stick with Feigelson, because he allows the music to speak that little bit more naturally and in more varied colours. His two-disc set with the Preludes also has the advantage of including the longer original version of the first movement of Sonata No 4 on a separate track (not an option for Tarasova’s disc, which is close to the 80-minute mark as it is).