"Swinging" cello concertos aren't exactly thick on the ground, which makes Jan Novák's Capriccio (1958 59) a particular delight, what with its saucy clarinets and saxophones and its lightly percussive ostinatos. It starts like Twenties show music, goes gently tiptoe for a 12 tone second movement then jives away happily for the closing Allegro, with "Lennie" and "Igor" never out of earshot for too long. Midway between the high jinks of Novák's Capriccio and the more formal expressive qualities of Foerster's Concerto comes the thrice-revised First Cello Concerto of Bohuslav Martinu, the successive versions having been premiered by none other than Cassadó, Fournier and Saldó (the version heard here, from 1956). Martinu's characteristically offbeat rhythmic computations make their presence felt right from the dramatic opening bars but it is the work's haunting melodic profile that most lingers in the memory, especially the first movement's second subject (at 2'10") and the uplifting central Andante moderato, one of Martinu's loveliest single movements. The Concerto is rounded off with a typically busy Allegro.

Josef Bohuslav Foerster's Concerto of 1931 is the earliest of the works programmed, as well as the most intense and the most obviously rooted in tradition (think of, for example, Dvorák and Suk). The work's heart is again its slow movement, where meaningful dialogue with other solo strings is so effective, the music often rather reminiscent of Chausson. I was amazed to learn that this is the work's world premiere recording.

I've delayed mentioning Jirí Bárta simply because there's hardly any need to: he plays with a warm, unselfconscious expressiveness that connects with all three works, and the Prague Philharmonia is with him every step of the way. The sound is excellent, the solo cello profile especially good.