Caspar Diethelm (1926–97) spent virtually his whole life in and around Lucerne, where he taught for three decades at the Conservatoire – yet his catalogue of 343 works, among them eight symphonies and some fifty pieces for soloist and orchestra, reaches far beyond its regional roots. His free-tonal style, angular yet accessible, draws on Hindemith and Honegger (both of whom he studied with), Frank Martin and Othmar Schoeck, with Bartók adding rhythmic spice and folk-like melodies evoking a distinctly Swiss soundscape. This first volume of his orchestral music, released in his centenary year, presents three concertos in first recordings: Yggdrasil, his Third Piano Concerto, named after the world-tree of Norse myth; the wintry Concerto Hiemalis for clarinet; and Anubis, a violin concerto built around a central set of ten variations. Patrizio Mazzola, Calogero Palermo and Sibylle Tschopp are the soloists, with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra under Rainer Held. Clear orchestral textures, surges of energy and touches of gleeful humor make this a vivid introduction to a composer ripe for rediscovery.