Each of the four sections of this DVD is prefaced by one of the director’s idiosyncratic chats to us viewers explaining the background to what we are about to see. Though these introductions are nothing if not self-regarding, Nupen has, to be fair, every right to be pleased with his achievements. He is a director in whose cultured and reassuring company musicians feel secure and relaxed. The results are films of depth and real insight – and already of some historical importance.

For instance, in the first one on the present volume, The Vital Juices Are Russian, we meet the young Ashkenazy in 1968 in the throes of moving his wife and small children from London to Iceland while fulfilling a hectic schedule of concerts – as a pianist, of course. I mention this for the benefit of younger readers who will know Ashkenazy only as an international conductor. This phase of his career is celebrated in the brief second section, a nine-minute montage of four orchestral movements taken from various other Nupen/Ashkenazy films.

More substantial is the previously unpublished film of Ashkenazy’s lengthy, thought-provoking introduction to Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations, followed by a live performance of the work in Lugano. The DVD ends with the customary Allegro Films makeweight compilation of 33 short extracts from its catalogue.