In recent times Bliss’s swaggering Piano Concerto (written in 1938-39 for Solomon) has found a champion in Peter Donohoe, and it’s good that he has been able to set down his powerful interpretation as part of Naxos’s British Piano Concertos series. As those thunderous octaves at the outset demonstrate, Bliss’s bravura writing holds no terrors for Donohoe and he generates a satisfying rapport with David Lloyd-Jones and the RSNO. Theirs is a beautifully prepared and attentive reading which grips from start to finish. The bittersweet central Adagietto casts an especially potent spell (the closing measures are ravishing – try from 9'19"), while both outer movements harness blistering virtuosity to supple affection. All told, a worthy modern counterpart to those thrilling historic displays from Solomon and Mewton-Wood listed above.

No less compelling is the buoyant account of the Concerto for Two Pianos: an infectiously enjoyable, single-movement work that began life in 1921 as a Concerto for Piano, Tenor and Strings (that same year, Bliss embarked on his Colour Symphony, of which there are fleeting echoes here). The present revision dates from 1950; 18 years later, Bliss overhauled the piece one last time for the three-hand partnership of Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith. As in the Piano Concerto, the recording’s a touch bright and clangorous, but the ear soon adjusts.

Fortunately, no such technical qualms surround Donohoe’s intelligent and accomplished performance of the Sonata composed in 1952 for Noel Mewton-Wood (who gave the première in a BBC broadcast the following year, not long before his suicide). With his commanding presence and rich tonal palette, Donohoe again exhibits a remarkable empathy with Bliss’s red-blooded inspiration. This rewarding Naxos disc deserves every success.