Although he has composed across a variety of media (his piano music was reviewed last November), Haflioi Halgrímsson was once a cellist by profession and his understanding of the instrument comes through every bar here. A concerto in all but name, Herma (1995) features a string orchestra of 22 players often divided into as many parts, making for a “first among equals” context that the soloist seizes upon in writing that is expressively overt and oblique by turns. Formally, it suggests three continuous spans – one in which slower and faster tempi alternate, followed by a slow section where cello predominates so it becomes an accompanied cadenza, preceding one in which not even a ruminative final monologue can impede the energy accrued.

Truls Mørk projects the close-knit solo writing with his customary finesse, and he is no less insightful in the Cello Concerto (2003) dedicated to him. Here, sustained and often contemplative music – “haunted” by allusions to a Grieg lullaby – precedes a scherzo-like section, before an increasingly combative accompanied cadenza brings a heightened return of the opening music and a serene coda. Once again, Halgrímsson judges the degree of emotional rhetoric unerringly and the only reservation might be that his resourceful writing for strings outweighs that for the rest of the orchestra. Hardly the fault of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, who respond with alacrity to the assured direction of John Storgårds. Excellent sound and decent notes help make this a disc worth investigating by those who have enjoyed Halgrímsson’s understated individuality.