The four concertante works that feature on this recording under the direction of the clarinettist and conductor Michael Collins include the very first and last that Strauss wrote. The Romanze for clarinet and orchestra (not to be confused with the slightly later Romanze for cello and orchestra) was completed when Strauss was 15 in 1879. The work’s technical assurance reflects the considerable number of works already written by the industrious young composer as well as his interest in Mozart, but the melodic invention is not yet especially original or distinctive. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to hear the music of the developing composer brought to life in this dedicated performance by Collins.

A considerable advance in Strauss’s ambition and achievement is apparent in the Violin Concerto from three years later. Some 30 minutes long, the concerto is indebted to Mendelssohn, among others, but offers a rewarding listen on its own terms with imaginative and often heartfelt writing for both soloist and orchestra. Ulf Hoelfscher’s pioneering recording with Kempe is an essential listen but Little’s interpretation is wonderfully sympathetic and the accompaniment under Collins is first-class.

Four years separate the Violin Concerto and the Burleske, a work described by the late Michael Kennedy as Strauss’s first masterpiece. It’s a piece that has received numerous recordings and I would not want to be without Kempe’s vivid and extrovert account with Malcolm Frager. However, the playing of the BBC SO under Collins is similarly impassioned and the pianist Michael McHale offers a splendidly virtuoso performance.

The Duett-Concertino, Strauss’s final work in the genre, also receives a lovely performance. Both Collins and the bassoonist Julie Price offer characterful performances in this warm and nostalgic piece from the composer’s old age, with its echoes of the operas Capriccio and Daphne, and the string-playing is attractively crisp and expressive. All four works are superbly recorded.