Paul Ben-Haim: Chamber WorksChandosThe foremost composer in the early years of the state of Israel, Ben-Haim was a romantic nationalist in an alien landscape. Munich-born in 1897, Paul Frankenburger docked at Haifa in 1933 and was shocked to discover that Europe did not hold a monopoly on musical tonalities. He took a Hebrew surname and, inspired by a Yemenite folksinger, Bracha Zefira, composed Hebrew songs in microtones, with ultra-correct German precision.His chamber music, written for domestic use under the heavy skies of a Tel Aviv summer, has fallen into disuse; this release is an illuminating introduction. Passing quickly over a juvenile piano quartet, we discover a kindred spirit to Bartok, ears wide open to indigenous and ambient sounds, feet ever ready to jump up and learn a Beduin dance.The most attractive pieces, athletically played here by Canada’s ARC ensemble, are a pair of violin-piano jigs written for the visiting virtuoso Zino Francescatti, and a quintet for clarinet and strings that hovers between the bourgeois salon and the high-jinks of a klezmer band against a backdrop of heat and dust. Ben Haim died in 1984, never fully acclimatised to his newfound land. The record cover is a stunning portrait of Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square in pristine Bauhaus design. No photographer credited, but a joy to behold.Three concerto albumsSchumann/DvorakNaïveThe Dvorak piano concerto is a relative rarity, the Schumann ubiquitous. Both are sweetly rendered by Francesco Piemontesi, with the BBC Symphony Orch, cond. Jiri Belohlavek. They make the more persuasive case for the Dvorak, played in the original 1883 version; the andante of the Dvorak simply must be heard. .Dvorak A-major cello concertoFuga LiberaWritten in his 20s and not performed until the composer was long dead, the juvenile work anticipates the great B-minor cello concerto of 1895 in depth of tone and colour. It has a couple of original themes and is unmistakably Dvorak. But the mastery has yet to develop and the listener’s interest fades long before the last chord. Alexander Rudin directs Moscow’s Musica Viva very ably from the soloist’s seat.Debussy, Francaix, Poulenc, RavelHänsslerNice idea, but the Debussy piano concerto is juvenile, the Francaix is frippery, the Poulenc fizzles out after an arresting opening and only the Ravel G major counts as an unqualified masterpiece. Florian Uhlig has all the fun at the keyboard. The radio orchestra of Saarbrücken manage to keep up, under Pablo Gonzalez’s baton.___Norman Lebrecht is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications. He has written 12 books about music, the most recent being Why Mahler? He hosts the blog Slipped Disc.