James Ehnes seems to be on the threshold of the Pantheon of violinists, in the company of Grumiaux, Kogan, Oistrakh etc., and this recording will do nothing to check that progress. Gramophone declared it “old school”. Exactly! And what’s wrong with that?  I’d call it a splendidly central reading. Neither ponderous nor slickly, unduly nimble. There’s a limit to the cult of trim, taut and terrific.

The first movement trills attain an ecstatic quality, which reminded me of the piano equivalent in the slow movement of Ravel’s G Major Concerto. Ehnes and the orchestra, who sound excellent throughout, seem in sweet accord. In the celestial Larghetto, he achieves an exalted level of intimacy and affection, with exquisite phrasing which never sounds cosseted. The finale...