Here are four attractive British offerings for cello and orchestra spanning just 15 years (1936-51), fully deserving of rescue from almost total oblivion: three are receiving their first recordings. Rubbra’s Soliloquy, a ruminative essay from 1943/44 of rapt beauty conceived for William Pleeth, receives its third Vernon Handley recording, on balance his best yet for he forms a lucid and warmly sympathetic partnership with Raphael Wallfisch. The anthology derives its title of ‘Song of the Birds’ from the Second Cello Concerto (1951) by Herbert Murrill (1909-52), director of music at the BBC before his death at the age of 43. Its appealing single movement incorporates the Catalan folk melody made famous by Pablo Casals, to whom the work is dedicated. George Dyson’s Prelude, Fantasy and Chaconne (completed at the end of 1935) is less individual, but the grace of its solo writing and deft instrumentation have much to commend it.

Haydn Wood’s Philharmonic Variations were written in 1939 for WH Squire, a famed exponent of Elgar’s Concerto, whose arresting introduction is recalled here. Later passages nod towards Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations.

Throughout this nicely engineered collection, Wallfisch and Handley are in their element; the BBC Concert Orchestra, too, respond with enthusiasm, and Lewis Foreman’s knowledgeable notes are a boon. Retailing at mid-price, this strikes me as well worth tracking down