Brahms’s Serenade No 1 in D major, Op 11, is known largely in the orchestral guise the composer devised in 1859. But he conceived the piece first as a chamber work for flute, two clarinets, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and bass. The original 1858 version, in a reconstruction by Alan Boustead, is the chief fascination on this disc from the New York Chamber Ensemble under Stephen Rodgers Radcliffe. As Clara Schumann suggested to Brahms, the score claimed a symphonic character that seemed to cry out for more instruments. Even so, the chamber version places the music in intimate relief, pointing out the long-breathed lyricism and lilting personality of the pastoral material. Brahms even provided a hint in the orchestral version that he was fond of the smaller incarnation: the Menuetto I and II in the former are scored for flute, two clarinets, bassoon, first violins, violas and cellos. Boustead’s reconstruction may be speculative, but it honours Brahms’s sound world even as it embraces the music’s charm, poetry and moments when the sun slips behind the clouds.

The disc’s other novelties are three of Franck’s Pièces brèves, organ miniatures from the last year of the composer’s life orchestrated by Henri Büsser. They are delightful trifles beautifully cast for winds, brasses, strings and percussion.

The New York Chamber Ensemble, which made this recording in November 1992, brings ample polish and expressive depth to both scores. The Brahms, from a studio performance, is rendered fresh as motivated by Radcliffe’s judicious tempos and attention to detail and his players’ vibrant interweaving of lines.