Inspired by a poem by Aleksey Tolstoy, Taneyev’s cantata John of Damascus was the first work that the self-critical Russian composer deemed worthy of an opus number, its sublime music drawing on an ancient sacred chant woven into rich passages of expressive counterpoint. A quarter of a century later, the virtuosic and scintillating Suite de concert, Taneyev’s first work for solo violin and orchestra, was also successfully premièred. Thomas Sanderling’s first disc in the Naxos Taneyev series (Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 / 8.570336) was praised by The Guardian for its “strongly characterised performances”.