There are three categories in the Carl Nielsen International Competition – violin, flute and clarinet – reflecting the Danish composer’s three concertos. As well as the prize money, the winner of each is awarded a recording with the Odense Symphony Orchestra on Orchid Classics. I’ve reviewed a few of these over the years, but this one is exceptionally fine.

Ukrainian clarinettist Oleg Shebeta-Dragan was the standout winner of the 2022 competition (you can watch the final on the Odense SO’s YouTube channel) and this debut disc is richly rewarding. We’ll get to the obligatory Nielsen Concerto shortly, but first the rest of his inventive programme.

Ferruccio Busoni’s Concertino for clarinet was composed towards the end of his life while he was working on Doktor Faustus – indeed, the slow movement was drawn from a setting of ‘Es war ein König in Thule’, Gretchen’s song from Part 1 of Goethe’s Faust, which Busoni had discarded from his opera. It’s a charming work, an operatic cantilena for the clarinet. With his warm tone, Shebeta-Dragan is a splendid advocate with playing of grace and fluidity, his silken touch making light of the tricky ‘string-inspired arpeggios’ of which Jack Brymer used to complain. There have been a few recordings of the Concertino, most notably by John Bradbury with Neeme Järvi and the BBC Philharmonic (Chandos, 7/02), but this new one is most persuasive.

Jean Françaix’s light-hearted Tema con variazioni was composed in 1974 as a test piece for the Paris Conservatoire. It’s usually heard in that original clarinet-and-piano format, but Françaix transcribed it for clarinet and string orchestra. Shebeta-Dragan negotiates the twists and turns with aplomb and plenty of cheeky wit. Darius Milhaud’s Scaramouche requires cheeky wit, too, and Shebeta-Dragan is suitably insouciant here in the orchestral arrangement made for Benny Goodman, the toe-tapping ‘Brazileira’ suitably raunchy.

There’s more serious competition on disc when it comes to Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto. Shebeta-Dragan cannot (yet) quite match the puckish manner of Martin Fröst but his playing is adroit and full of character. The first two movements are swift and light on their feet, abetted by Anna Skryleva’s urgent pacing of the Odense SO. Nielsen often has the snare drum as the clarinet’s impudent sidekick in cadenza moments; here, the snare drum could be more forwardly placed – BIS does this better for Fröst – but their sparring is good fun. Shebeta-Dragan finds a darker tone for the concerto’s introspective moments, and the swagger of the finale is infectious to conclude this highly impressive debut disc.