The premiere of Stuart MacRae's Violin Concerto at the 2001 Proms cemented his reputation and transformed him at the age of 25 from a hugely promising talent into a composer of real stature and maturity. Christian Tetzlaff is one of a number of violinists to have taken the Concerto into their repertory, and his performance on this disc is dazzling.

A disc devoted to Stuart MacRae is timely, as the 30-year-old composer has built a considerable reputation. As the composer remarks in his booklet-note, all four pieces (written between 1999 and 2004) outline a journey. Abstractly, in the Birtwistle-like division of brass in the hieratic Stirling Choruses and the vividly soloistic sextet of Motus, whose progress from the fractured and discursive to the sustained and cumulative recalls that of the fine trumpet concerto Interact; graphically, as in the Dante texts relating the Infernal afterlife of Count Ugolino, even if the vocal line seems overwrought – at least when delivered with the vehemence of Loré Lixenberg – in the context of instrumental writing itself rich in expressive detail. The Violin Concerto is the most impressive work here: a successful formal recasting of the genre with the emotional emphasis on its finale, a striking amalgam of cadenza and apotheosis that handles the orchestra with considerable finesse. Dedicated playing from Christian Tetzlaff, along with the BCMG and BBC Scottish SO. An important release.

The Violin Concerto is the most impressive work here: a successful formal recasting of the genre with the emotional emphasis on its finale, a striking amalgam of cadenza and apotheosis that handles the orchestra with considerable finesse. Dedicated playing from Christian Tetzlaff, along with the BCMG and BBC Scottish SO; an important release.