Here is a very handy complement to Chandos’s cycle of Tansman’s symphonies. Like most of those, the three works recorded here typify his modest, elegant, neo-classical manner, which may not have engendered anything quite as individual as, say, Martin≤ or Poulenc, but which comes recognisably from the same stable and always falls gratefully on the ear.

The Five Pieces of 1930, none of them more than three minutes long, could serve young violinists as useful warm-ups for the heavier challenges of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Despite its attempts to strike a deeper note, the Concerto (1937) strikes me as generally rather routine, illustrating the problems Tansman had in working anywhere above the miniature scale. It was commissioned by a rich lady who apparently did not perform it, having been discouraged by reviews of her playing. Though it was taken up after the war by Heifetz, the abiding impression is of a concertino trying to fill oversize clothes.

I’m pretty sure this is not the fault of Bartosz Cajler, who delivers the solo part of both works with panache. And the Biaystok orchestra acquits itself more than creditably throughout the disc. With the Suite Baroque of 1958, Tansman is back in his comfort zone, all five movements being crisp and decorous, and none outstaying its welcome.

Concerning some previous Dux discs, I have had reservations over the quality of playing, recording and annotations. None of those apply to this more than worthwhile issue.