Joachim Raff (1822-82) deserves considerably more attention than he currently receives, so full marks to this ever-enterprising Swedish indie for the resurrection of the Swiss composer’s five-movement Suite and affording us glimpses of Raff the opera composer. He had a fine melodic gift (as anyone who knows his C minor Piano Concerto and Cello Concerto will know) and was one of the master orchestrators of the day (he acted as Liszt’s guide in instrumentation for a short while). His Op 200, lasting over 36 minutes, shows not only these gifts but a clever and witty eclectic. The fugue subject of the first movement’s Introduction and Fugue, for instance, after its academic exposition, is treated in an unexpectedly humorous way, then played against itself in inversion as well as being used in a high-spirited transformation for part of the finale. The nimble-fingered soloist, the young British-Vietnamese pianist Tra Nguyen, despatches the Mendelssohnian filigree writing with stylish aplomb. Altogether an engaging and attractive discovery.

The two overtures from his 1882 comic opera Die Eifersüchtigen (“The Jealous Ones”) and King Alfred (1850), Liszt-influenced and solidly crafted, would make effective curtain-raisers though lacking that last spark of individuality that will forever confine Raff to the second division. The last three pieces underline this, especially the Intermezzo from Raff’s Dornröschen (“Briar-Rose”) for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, a straight lift from Mendelssohn’s fairy world. The orchestral playing is fine with the occasional untidy string ensemble, the recording is excellent and comes with an extensive (16-page) booklet in English.