Wilhelmina Smith moves from the Finland of Salonen and Saariaho (5/19) to the Denmark of Nørgård and Ruders, two composers interested in variation, metamorphosis and the idea of big structures wrought from small ingredients. The American cellist brings much to the works here but the most admirable quality of all is an extreme clarity that suits the music. She manages to maintain it even when her lone cello is wearing multiple masks at once.

Per Nørgård’s First Sonata dates from the 1950s, when the composer was corresponding with Sibelius and trying to find his own way of responding to the Finn’s particular way with thematic metamorphosis. Nørgård’s theme is shape shifting from the get-go, transforming itself even within the three distinct movements including a finale in which the cellist appears to be engaged in a multi-layered Bartókian conversation with herself.

The Sonata No 2 is a classic Nørgård yin-yang: two broad movements, the first an intimate arch based on a hymnlike theme and the second a restless exploration of a tiny cell in which you can almost feel the composer approaching the personal breakthrough that led to the Infinity Series. No 3 is a set of three miniatures extending Danish music’s obsession with the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, exploring his quote ‘What – is the Word!’ The little puzzles may be complex but Smith explains their rubric as clearly as possible, which serves the bigger structure. The accuracy of her intonation, here and everywhere, is uncanny.

It’s a neat idea to end with Poul Ruders’s 1976 variations on the ubiquitous medieval folk tune ‘L’homme armé’, Bravourstudien. All his style, wit and cheek and, yes, bravura are present, not least in the wry airing of the theme only at the end. In the nine neo-Baroque variations that lead up to it Ruders proves that he can be almost as chameleonic with a single instrument as he can with a full orchestra. Yet again, that’s partly down to Smith, who, when faced with her own extraordinary range of technical and expressive abilities, still errs towards a less-is-more approach – truly an honorary Scandinavian.