Using a warm, wide vibrato, Maria Kliegel gives a dedicated performance. With Yuasa drawing superb playing from the Ulster Orchestra, this is an unusually spacious reading that sustains its length well. What makes it specially attractive is the coupling, In Alium, a piece for soprano, tape and orchestra which is at once devotional and sensuous. The layering of textures, with dramatic contrasts, is vividly caught in the Naxos recording. Warmly recommended.

If you’re tired of musical clichés, but not quite up to Schoenberg, you will find John Tavener’s work interesting. Tellingly, The Protecting Veil was not intended as music, but as an artwork. A cello (representing the Mother of God) plays continuously. Maria Kliegel bows her 1693 Stradivarius superbly.