This outstanding disc is the counterpart of Michael Collins’s coupling of Spohr’s first two Clarinet Concertos with the same forces (7/05). It is thanks to Collins’s artistry that relatively prosaic ideas are transformed, with magical echo effects, subtle pointing of rhythm to make the music sparkle in shaping of phrases that is magnetic. The squareness of ideas in the slow movement of No 3 is similarly minimised with such treatment, with the finale in triple time given an infectious lilt.

The Third Concerto, dating from 1821, is rather outshone by No 4, written in 1826‑27, when to his delight Spohr had been appointed Kapellmeister in Kassel. These works, like Spohr’s other clarinet works, were inspired by the playing of Johan Hermann Hermstedt: Collins plays with an inspirational touch, too, and no more so than in the charming and witty “Rondo al espagnol” that rounds off No 4. Beautifully balanced sound, making this an exceptionally attractive disc.