The title work of Gidon Kremer’s CD with the Kremerata Baltica is the “Happy Birthday” Variations by Peter Heidrich in which the world’s most familiar theme is given many different styles including those of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann.

The “Happy Birthday” Variations are a favourite encore at Kremerata Baltica concerts, as are the other works on this disc. If the encore can be considered like a dessert course, this CD is like a cart full of musical confections. The tunes that come in for unfettered treatment, such as Auld Lang Syne, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and God Save the King are by turns gently remoulded (as in the Kakhidze) or manipulated with gusto (as in the Bor). A spirit of impulsiveness and improvisation, of good-natured parody, of highbrow caricature, characterises the whole undertaking – brought to life by the young and preternaturally talented Kremerata Baltica.