An imaginative programming idea‚ using Kodály’s combustible‚ gypsy­style solo Cello Sonata as the centrepiece of an all­Hungarian 20th­century programme. Jean­Guihen Queyras has already been hailed for his ‘unparalleled’ interpretation of the work and listening to this superbly engineered recording – where every subtle nuance glows within a sympathetic IRCAM acoustic – you can easily hear why. Unlike‚ say‚ the more formal Starker or Bengtsson recordings (my personal favourites to date)‚ Queyras’s prime perspective is‚ or seems to be‚ humour‚ which is the probable point of all those harmonics‚ pizzicatos‚ scrubbing arpeggios and what have you – passages that sway and gyrate as if ‘under the influence’. Other cellists have sounded more intensely cantorial in the first and second movements‚ but Queyras’s quiet playing is pure velvet. And of course there’s one passage in the finale – an extended sequence of arpeggios – that will be unfamiliar to those brought up on Starker’s earlier ‘cut’ recordings (on EMI‚ 12/95‚ and Period‚ both nla). In sum‚ this is a good Op 8‚ witty‚ stylish‚ a little camp­sounding at times and for the most part extremely polished. The earlier Kodály pieces are musically less interesting but more immediately approachable‚ the Adagio (originally a fiddle piece) especially‚ with its soaring solo line over a rippling piano accompaniment (for example‚ from around 4'35"). The Sonatina on the other hand is ‘probably’ the revised first movement of a projected but ultimately withdrawn Cello Sonata. It’s less a settled piece than the Adagio (not surprisingly‚ given its ultimate fate) but shares with it the benefit of a finely drawn performance by Queyras‚ who is accompanied by Harmonia Mundi’s star ‘find’‚ the pianist Alexandre Tharaud. As to the rest: Kurtág’s potently aphoristic Jelek and Árnyak are quite different in spirit to his marginally more expansive – and more lyrical – Az hit‚ Pilinszky János: Gérard de Nerval and In memoriam Aczèl György (here we’re talking just over‚ rather than just under‚ a minute apiece). Veress’s 1967 Sonata is quietly innovative and beautifully written‚ most notably in the central Larghetto where pizzicatos‚ tremolandos and sul ponticello bowing occur to powerful expressive effect. The finale’s furtive mobility put me in mind of the first of Bartók’s piano Etudes. All this music makes considerable demands on Queyras‚ who rises to each challenge with confidence and formidable skill. Again‚ the various recordings are first­rate.