Enescu’s Second Violin Sonata (1899) occupies a special place in his output, being the work in which he found his personal voice. Its three ardently expressive movements occupy a Brahmsian sound world convincingly achieved (he was just 18 at the time) with little or no hint of his native Romania in the melodies. Strauss and Poletaev take the work’s virtuoso challenges in their stride and at pace, too (suiting the music), matching the Opreans on Helios and cutting three minutes off Mordkovitch on Chandos.

Twenty-seven years later, Enescu’s Third is the Second’s diametric opposite, avowedly of ‘popular Romanian character’ (although not quoting any folk tunes) from bar 1. It has been recorded many times and with its combination of fearsome technical challenge, exotic Eastern European accent and perfect proportions it is not hard to hear why. Strauss and Poletaev prove formidable exponents of its many charms and if not perhaps as idiomatic as Sherban Lupu in either of his recorded accounts (that on Altarus was reissued on Continuum), Strauss’s is still a sparkling account, superior to Szalai and a rival to Kavakos. Poletaev accompanies with fire and panache.

In between came the single-movement Torso Sonata in A minor (1911), though whether it was penned for a larger sonata that never materialised or as an independent work is unclear. There are Romanian elements – the wistful opening theme, for instance – neatly integrated within a mainstream late-Romantic idiom. The fleeter tempi here again pay dividends, as also in the short Impromptu concertant (1903), Strauss and Poletaev tauter than Samouil and Bara. Naxos’s sound is clear and natural though not as resonant as some rivals.