A product of the Reykjavík Music School, Eastman School of Music, Royal College of Music and Juilliard School, Guðný Gumundsdóttir was just 26 when she was appointed the first concertmaster of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She held the post for 36 years, regularly appearing as a soloist giving the Icelandic premieres of a host of concertos, three of which have been capably captured here by Iceland’s state broadcaster.

Gumundsdóttir is not the first orchestral leader to record the Elgar – one thinks of Philharmonia stalwart Hugh Bean’s delectably idiomatic 1972 account with Sir Charles Groves and the RLPO (last reissued on a Classics for Pleasure double-pack, 11/04). By and large, her reading evinces a selfless commitment and big heart that are endearing (the work’s closing pages have a genuine sense of homecoming and elation about them). The tone of her 1728 ‘del Gesù’ Guarneri falls beguilingly on the ear, while the richly experienced James Loughran accompanies sympathetically; indeed, there are some lovely things in the slow movement (try from 10'49" to the end). However, when all’s said and done, there’s an unhelpful want of tumbling fantasy, canny instinct and true authority – in which respects both Bean and his legendary mentor Albert Sammons (Naxos, 5/02) are in a different league altogether.

It’s a similar story in the Britten, whose formidable technical challenges are not always comfortably negotiated by the otherwise dedicated soloist. Granted, the Icelanders respond with a will under the baton of Sidney Harth but the performance as a whole lags some way behind those from, say, Ida Haendel, Lorraine McAslan, Daniel Hope, Janine Jansen, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Tasmin Little and (most recently) Linus Roth (Challenge Classics, 7/14). The Britten is followed by the urgently expressive, notably resourceful and readily assimilable Violin Concerto that Páll Pampichler Pálsson (b1928) fashioned for Gumundsdóttir in 1997 98. Suffice to say, the dedicatee plays with total conviction and is excellently partnered by Petri Sakari. Like Pálsson, Herbert H Ágústsson (b1926) originally hailed from Austria and is now a naturalised Icelander. His 17-minute Structure II (1978 79) comprises a theme and six variations and wears a somewhat stern (though by no means forbidding) countenance. It receives another first-class performance from Gumundsdóttir, this time with Richard Bernas on the podium. Overall verdict? A mixed bag, so I strongly advise you sample before purchasing.