Two key aspects of Zoltán Kodály’s groundbreaking Solo Cello Sonata sit side by side: its ambitious extension of the instrument’s tonal properties (facilitated in part by selected retuning) and its use of material that sounds like daily musical bread for Hungarian peasants. János Starker famously toured the piece worldwide, claiming that it paid for his backyard swimming pool, and his various recordings of the work – the earliest of which admitted some textual cuts – still take some beating. Another vintage classic is by Zara Nelsova, now out in the 53-CD set ‘The Decca Sound: Mono Years 1944-1956’ box (3/15), the sonata’s opening intense virtually to the point of self-combustion. Alisa Weilerstein’s recent recording (Decca, 1/15) is another winner, energetic, impassioned and technically formidable.

Antonio Meneses occupies a position just beneath their ranks with a performance that has been crafted down to the tiniest detail, the swirling finale in particular confident and polished, with every technical trick in the cellist’s book pulled off with panache. And yet I do have one small reservation: Kodály’s Op 8 needs to sound like a well-crafted but intense improvisation, and, for all Meneses’s assurance, intensity is at a premium. The sound, though, is excellent, with a real buzz to the C string, and with fine sonic definition in the other big work too, the Op 7 Duo.

There’s an obvious rapport here with the violinist Claudio Cruz, especially in the playful folk-dance antics that sit at the centre of the finale. Again a benchmark begs investigation: Heifetz and Piatigorsky (now in RCA’s 60-disc ‘Living Stereo, Vol 2’ collection), who somehow manage rather more of a suggested twinkle in the eye, while their pooled tone has a vibrant, ‘speaking’ quality that Meneses and Cruz don’t quite match. Hark back either to Heifetz and Piatigorsky or János Starker and Arnold Eidus (Forgotten Records) for the principal quality that Meneses and Cruz lack, namely individuality. Still, viewed purely from the standpoint of repertoire, it’s a fine programme, and Gaspar Cassadó’s Suite for solo cello (a product of the 1920s) makes for a pleasing bonus. Excellent notes by Julian Haylock.