The Compact Collection

Bohuslav Martinu certainly knew what he was doing when he revised his Czech Dances for Violin and Orchestra as a charmingly neo-baroque suite concertante. The original had been commissioned in 1938 by the violinist Samuel Dushkin, before Martinu emigrated to the United States. He subsequently re-worked his material into a form that bears a superficial resemblance to Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, yet remains quintessentially Martinu in its busyness, gently swinging rhythms and nostalgic longing for home. Supraphon's world premiere recording by the distinguished Czech violinist Bohuslav Matousek with the Czech Phil under Christopher Hogwood chugs along happily, and the coupling – Martinu's First Violin Concerto – surveys similar territory with equal success.

It's an interesting paradox that some of Frederick Delius's most English-sounding scores were Scandinavian-inspired. Delius and Grieg were good friends and when the Bradford-born composer sent Greig his Five Songs from the Norwegian, Grieg responded with both delight and gratitude. The orchestrations on Danacord's new CD aren't actually by Delius but by that ever-resourceful Danish composer and conductor Bo Holten, who has scored the songs with a pastoral ear and an occasional twist of Strauss. Henriette Bonde-Hansen, the soprano, sings with unaffected rapture, especially in "The Nightingale" and "Sunset", which should be better known. Holten's programme of Delius's "Norwegian Masterworks" also includes the easygoing Sleigh Ride, the moody tone poem Eventyr and, most impressively, the magnificent The Songs of the High Hills, 26 minutes of windblown tone painting and achingly beautiful harmonies. Holten's excellent, though economical, Aarhus forces invariably hit the target and the sound has admirable clarity.

Heard after Bo Holten's slender-toned Delius, Leighton Lucas's revamped Massenet seems unashamedly luxuriant. Furthermore, Lucas's ballet, Manon, doesn't employ a single note from Massenet's opera of the same name. What it does use is taken from a whole range of stage works, with "The Last Sleep of the Virgin" for openers and the famous "Elégie" as a sort of recurring leitmotif. It makes for a gorgeous wallow, but if you'd prefer to try before you buy, ask to hear Scene Two, a sound portrait of Des Grieux's Paris lodgings (on disc 1, track two). Richard Bonynge's conducting is brimful of spirit and passion; there's some exceptionally fine playing from the Royal Opera House Orchestra, and the digital recording is suitably sumptuous. If you're thinking of chocolates as a love gift, take my advice and give this instead.

Or if Chopin seems a better idea, you might try Oxana Yablonskaya's Bel Air CD of the two piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic under her son, Dmitry. The playing is admirably fluent, but the principal points of musical interest are in the orchestrations: Balakirev's subtle re-working of the First Concerto, and – even rarer – a "Schumannesque" version of the Second by Liszt's pupil, Karl Klindworth. To call them improvements might seem like disrespectful over-statement, but it certainly wouldn't be unjustified on artistic grounds.

Martinu Suite concertante; Violin Concerto No. 1 Bohuslav Matousek, Czech PO/Christopher Hogwood Supraphon/Koch SU 3653-2 031

'Frederick Delius: Norwegian Masterworks' Henriette Bonde-Hansen, Aarhus SO, etc/Bo Holten Danacord/Discovery DACOCD 592

Massenet-Lucas 'Manon' Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden/Richard Bonynge Decca 470 525-2 (two discs)

Chopin Piano Concertos 1 and 2 Oxana Yablonskaya, Moscow PO/Dmitry Yablonsky Bel Air/New Note BAM 2014