Zlatomir Fung takes an imaginative theme for his debut recording, delving into the 19th century’s short-lived penchant for opera-based fantasies for cello and piano.

The youngest-ever winner, in 2019, of the International Tchaikovsky Competition’s cello category, Fung’s foray into a neglected niche was prompted by a lockdown epiphany that violinists and pianists tended to steal the limelight from their cello and piano counterparts. Much digging and discovery of archives ensued, resulting in a late-pandemic livestreamed concert of recovered fantasies specifically for cello and piano in 2021, paving the way for this evangelical compendium of four such from the 19th century, bookended by two new pieces appearing on disc for the first time.

The first of those, by Fung himself, treats Jenůfa: a bold choice given the idiosyncratic accents and intricacies of Janáček’s score. An introduction and coda frame four through-played sections that don’t so much mimic the original as evoke its dark atmospheres and moods with a sepulchral immediacy lit up by shards of redeeming light. It proves a thoroughly apt approach, Fung the cellist a fine...