German violinist Anton Steck couples the Beethoven Violin Concerto with a work by the little-known violinist and composer Franz Alexander Pössinger, who appears to have been involved in editing the violin part of the Beethoven concerto.

The CD’s main interest is not Pössinger’s music, but Steck’s use of alternative readings for the solo line in the Beethoven. He chooses virtuosically inclined options, and often plays in a style to match. The changes in character are less  a matter of speed than of attitude. Conductor Matthew Halls encourages impressively vivid colours from L’arpa festante’s period instruments.

If the work has ever seemed too serene for you, Steck’s your man.