How good is your French? The two parts of Janáček’s On an Overgrown Path – the 10 pieces published in 1911 and the five untitled posthumous pieces – are given here in a string orchestra version made in 2017 by the Zurich Camerata violinist Daniel Rumler. But to link the two sets of pieces – and to represent the years that lay between them – the Camerata also commissioned a cycle of poems from the French writer Maïa Brumi, who reads them on this recording with eloquent, measured expression. What this means, in practice, is that Janáček’s cycle is divided by 15 minutes of poetry delivered in French, and that 10 tracks at the centre of the disc are devoted to the spoken word. Brumi reads beautifully, and your French may or may not allow you to follow her, though an English translation (but no French text) is given in the booklet.

Make of that what you will; the musical performances speak persuasively on their own terms. Rumler’s arrangements are imaginative without being obtrusive, and filled with telling details of colour and texture. There are little off-beat pizzicato ricochets in ‘A blown-away leaf’; icy sul ponticello stabs in ‘Unutterable anguish’ and a general sensitivity to inner voices and atmosphere that’s realised by Karsko and his Zurich players with playing of multilayered clarity and great finesse. The sound world is cool and carefully layered; vibrato is used sparingly and the spacious acoustic particularly favours the basses. But Karsko makes up for a slightly chilly overall atmosphere with a vivid alertness to Janáček’s shifting colours; and there’s an emotional ebb and flow to the Suk and Dvořák pieces that’s all the more potent for being (outwardly, at least) so austere. If you love this repertoire, it’s well worth a listen.