Here’s a second, tasty helping of British string music courtesy of CPO and the South West German Chamber Orchestra under Douglas Bostock, and while there’s nothing here that matches the sustained excellence of Gordon Jacob’s meaty and heartfelt Symphony for Strings on the previous volume (written for the Boyd Neel Orchestra in 1943, and a most exciting find), both offerings by Granville Bantock merit investigation.

Commissioned by the 1912 Hereford Three Choirs Festival, Bantock’s serenade for string orchestra In the Far West is a substantial four-movement work lasting some 32 minutes which grew out of an earlier string quartet from 1899. Its title is reflected in the incorporation of two Stephen Foster songs – ‘Way down upon the Swanee River’ (aka ‘Old folks at home’) and ‘Yankee-Doodle’, heard in the slow movement and finale respectively – that the composer may well have first encountered when he visited the US back in the 1890s. Idiomatically conceived for the medium, it makes a delightful discovery, the finale in particular displaying a winning wit and technical brilliance that raise the spirits. First heard in November 1913 and taken up by a budding Malcolm Sargent some 14 years later, Scenes from the Scottish Highlands comprises three energetic dance numbers (‘Strathspey’, ‘Quickstep’ and ‘Reel’ – each brimful of open-air zest, bracingly tangy sonorities and irresistible rhythmic snap) interspersed with two slow evocations (‘Dirge’ and ‘Gaelic Melody’ – hauntingly lovely, both). The disc opens with a six-movement Suite from 1901 by Derbyshire-born Christopher Wilson (1874-1919) with rather more than a whiff of Grieg’s Holberg Suite about it, combined with the odd flash of genuine inspiration – in the touching Romance especially – that makes one wonder what the remainder of his output might have to offer (a good portion of which is, alas, seemingly lost).

I can report that Bostock secures commendably tidy and conspicuously eager results (his antiphonally placed first and second violins prove a notable boon throughout), and the sound is admirable. Lewis Foreman supplies the knowledgeable and detailed booklet notes. A rewarding listen for any Anglophile who fancies venturing off the beaten track.