On track: Mellow cellos for young and old

As if Steven Isserlis hasn't enough to cope with, sustaining what he describes as "a particularly complicated cello life", the man writes on the side. His second collection of kooky kidult composer portraits, Why Handel Waggled His Wig, has just been published by Faber.

This interest in younger readers now extends to junior listeners and musicians. Spurred on by his cello-playing son, Gabriel, Isserlis has recorded a charming collection of miniatures, mostly intended for students of the instrument.

Together with pianist Stephen Hough, he guides us along a melodious pathway, obligingly graded from "First Steps" to "The Young Cellist". The reward at the end is the five contemporary pieces in "Gabriel's Corner".

The under-explored storehouse of English 20th-century music provides some lovely items, including the pastel chimes of A Sunday Evening in Autumn by Francis Purcell Warren.

If you want contemporary, there's the sonic enticement of Gavin Bryars' With Miriam by the River, while a spiky Angelic Dance by Hough suggests these angels picked up their musical licks in a chic 1920s nightclub.

There is even a New Zealand connection - a dainty Gavotte by Arnold Trowell. What is more, there is speculation about a liaison between Trowell and the young Katherine Mansfield.

The playing, beautifully gauged throughout, is at its most invigorating when the two men let loose on the haunting Requiebros by the great Spanish cellist Gaspar Cassado.

As usual with an Isserlis CD, there is almost as much pleasure reading the booklet as listening to the disc.

The cellist's introductory essay is waggish, whether praising the "fervent solemnity" of one Georg Golterman or marvelling at Amy Beach's ability to sing 40 songs in tune by the time she was one. Best tale? Playing Lebell's Berceuse Orientale as an encore, wineglass in hand - the piece calls for open strings only.

On the recording side, BIS have caught 80 minutes of enchanting music with a remarkable sense of intimacy. And you can't miss the Sara Fanelli drawing on the cover, with an unholy combination of cello and canine that would have Edward Lear chortling through his beard.

* Steve Isserlis & Stephen Hough, Children's Cello (BIS CD 1562, through Elite Imports)