Émigré composers who wound up in Hollywood (or at least in the neighbourhood) are the agents that bind this excellently performed, programmed and engineered cello recital. I suspect the topic provides an excuse for Brinton Averil Smith to trespass on violinists’ property and pilfer a few virtuoso showpieces! Consequently we get none of Franz Waxman’s original music but rather his daredevil fantasy drawing upon themes from Bizet’s Carmen that Jascha Heifetz made famous. As it happens, Smith plays the bejesus out of it, making child’s play of the rapid-fire spiccatos and almost impossible-to-control harmonics. Heifetz’s own scampering rendition of the Gershwins’ ‘It ain’t necessarily so’ also falls easily and playfully across Smith’s agile bow, while, by contrast, Godowsky’s Alt Wien teems with old-school elegance and just the right dose of schmaltz.

‘Saget mir, auf welchem Pfade’ from Schoenberg’s The Book of the Hanging Gardens loses nothing in translation from text-driven soprano to cello instrumental. Indeed, Smith ought to take on the entire song-cycle! He nails the wide interval leaps and angular syncopations of the third of Louis Gruenberg’s Jazzettes to stylistic perfection. While cello fanciers will find much to savour in Smith’s nimble facility and poised reserve in Ernst Toch’s solo Impromptus, I prefer the heated intensity and wider dynamic range of Frank Dodge’s altogether broader, more editorialised interpretations (also on Naxos). Conversely, Smith’s lightness of being and effortless aplomb work to his competitive advantage in Rózsa’s wonderful Toccata capricciosa when measured alongside heavier-gaited catalogue contenders.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s I nottambuli represents the disc’s substantial point of centre in its inventive fusion of fanciful flourishes and formal unity. In the absence of Frederick Moyer’s excellent 1999 recording, once available from Biddulph, Smith’s impassioned and variegated execution of the cello part is matched by Evelyn Chen’s comparably committed support. In fact, her thrusting accents in Smith’s Rachmaninov transcription evoke something of Rachmaninov’s own pianism, not to mention the colour she brings to Korngold’s juicy harmonic language. The cellist’s informative booklet notes further enhance my recommendation.