Nestled close to the border between Wales and England, with a population of less than 3,000, Presteigne is host to two annual music festivals, the oldest and most venerable of which, the town’s titular carnival, celebrates its 40th anniversary next year. In 2023 conductor George Vass will mark his third decade as artistic director, and here he leads the festival’s first recording, a hugely enjoyable compendium of works drawn from the more than 200 pieces it has commissioned.

Lovers of English music will need no urging to add this to their collection, not least for the Variations on ‘Lovely Joan’, an English folk tune familiar from Vaughan Williams’ Greensleeves Fantasia. Authored by eight composers, the stirring Prelude by Thomas Hyde (who also provides excellent booklet notes) prompts variegated responses: David Matthew’s darkly liquid treatment, Michael Berkeley’s chirpy birdsong and the haunting stillness of Sally Beamish especially catch the ear.

The most substantial work is Martin Butler’s Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings, inspired by the impeccably...