Here, in these guitar works by, and in homage to, Joaquín Rodrigo, Tom Kerstens proves yet again to be a true poet; where Frank Bungarten’s forthright, workmanlike performances, for example, seem fashioned with hammer and chisel, Kerstens’ are more subtly limned, the flash and fire infused with a more delicate intensity.

Kerstens’ playing is perhaps at its most persuasive in the final piece, the Zarabanda lejana, a piece written for piano solo but finding its natural home on the guitar. Inspired by the imagined colours of Renaissance composer Luis de Milán’s guitar-like vihuela, this is Rodrigo’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, redolent of the world of Velázquez. Tiento antiguo, which opens the disc, is its sister piece; here Kerstens allows Rodrigo’s prelude-like arpeggios to blossom effortlessly into plaintive song.

Between these two works Kerstens strings very colourful garlands indeed. The first two movements of the Sonata giocosa are an impressive pastiche of folk, flamenco and Rodrigo’s beloved Scarlatti, while the third movement is clearly based on Baroque guitarist Gaspar Sanz’s Canarios. ‘En los trigales’ features urgent, flamenco-inspired outer sections enclosing an effective middle section in which ‘distant’ chords respond to the lower strings’ firm declamations with loving submissiveness. The ‘Fandango’, ‘Passacaglia’ and ‘Zapateado’ of Tres piezas españolas are also heavily indebted to the Spanish vihuela players, although the ‘Zapateado’ is, as the name suggests, an evocation of an exciting flamenco dance.

The contemporary works, unfortunately, seem like intrusions, despite the evident quality of Edward McGuire’s Hommage (with its improvisatory energy attempting to break through Rodrigo’s imposing stylistic network) and Errollyn Wallen’s fragmented though surprisingly evocative Red. Skempton’s faux-naïf Reminiscence sounds cloying in a way that Rodrigo’s own folk-inspired Pastoral, also on this disc, does not.