These are fine, thoughtful performances, noteworthy in several respects. The balance between orchestra and violin is very natural, giving the soloist no special advantage; this, and the fact that the wind instruments are given a particularly prominent profile, imparts an unusual but not unwelcome perspective. The passage in the Concerto’s first movement where the violin soars aloft over a soft string accompaniment (track 1, 11'58"), and where most violinists slow right down, is here played, most delicately, at a speed closer to the basic tempo – and we can hear with unusual clarity the horns intoning the opening drum motif. And when the key-changes and the timpani, along with trumpets, reclaim the motif, the effect is magical.

Liza Ferschtman chooses for her first-movement cadenza the adaptation by Wolfgang Schneiderhan of Beethoven’s cadenza for his arrangement of the work as a piano concerto. It’s not easy to bring off this wonderful piece on the violin but, aided by the NSO’s timpanist, Peter Prommer, she succeeds triumphantly. I also warm to her playing of the finale – not as fast as Thomas Zehetmair but tremendously spirited – and, throughout the programme, to the way the orchestra matches her clear, unfussy phrasing. In both Concerto and Romances, Ferschtman’s tempi are almost identical to Christian Tetzlaff’s. Tetzlaff, however, sounds rather more suave, matched by the more blended sonority of the Zürich Tonhalle under David Zinman. It’s impossible to give a top recommendation for such often-recorded music but Ferschtman’s interpretation is constantly illuminating.