In the words of his friend, the violist and conductor Yuri Bashmet, the composer-pianist Igor Raykhelson – born in Leningrad in 1961 and now resident in New York – ‘possesses a superb mastery of both classical and jazz idioms’. The unashamed Romanticism of Raykhelson’s Violin Concerto (2007) and its emphasis on melody place it downstream from Korngold, and though the Viola Concerto (2005) has its darker moments, its vigorous, jazz-tinged finale has the knock-about good humour of Rodion Shchedrin.

Igor Raykhelson’s Violin Concerto was written as he was falling in love with his second wife, and it shows in the glorious melodies he wrote in the piece.

His Viola Concerto, written for his good friend Yuri Bashmet, the soloist here, also has some ravishing tunes, but it also quotes from Schubert and Rachmaninov, shows the influence of jazz and ends with a knockabout finale.

The previous Toccata Classics CD of Raykhelson’s music, featuring the Jazz Suite for viola, saxophone, piano and orchestra and a gorgeous Adagio for viola and strings (TOCC0055), was CD of the Week in The Evening Standard.