For lovers of English music and Vaughan Williams in particular, this new recording will be a delightful surprise. These are a collection of unfinished works and a restructured film score never before recorded. The stories of these ‘rescues’ are splendidly documented in the notes and are thoroughly absorbing.

The Three Nocturnes for baritone and orchestra (from 1908) were only completed when the missing second nocturne, fully orchestrated by the composer, turned up in 2000. According to Anthony Payne this marvellous work was almost certainly a watershed in the composer’s development, coinciding as it did with his short, transformative period of study with Ravel in 1907. The first and third nocturnes and the Four Last Songs for mezzo soprano and orchestra were orchestrated by Payne, who did such a masterly job resurrecting Elgar’s unfinished Third Symphony, and he has the Vaughan Williams imprint immaculately stamped upon his arrangements.

Similar in style to the Three Nocturnes, the Four Last Songs were premiered at the Proms in September 2013 with mezzo Jennifer Johnston, who also records the work convincingly on this CD. Sadly, I find this one of the composer’s more elusive works. The Three Nocturnes are sung perfectly by Roderick Williams. They are ruminative pieces,...