The presence of the pioneering harpsichordist Wanda Landowska in early-20th-century Paris inspired many composers to write for her. Her instrument of choice was a heavy cased Pleyel model with two keyboards and a wide variety of registrations designed more for the concert hall than the salon. Since Christopher Lewis is nothing if not ‘authenticity minded’, he has opted for a recently restored 1930s Pleyel.

Although Landowska did not record any of these pieces, it wouldn’t be presumptuous to read a few ‘Wanda-isms’ into the rhythmic swagger and specificity of articulation that Lewis brings to Poulenc’s Suite française: the gravitas of the Pavane’s rolled chords or the Complainte’s masterful finger legato, for example. In turn, the oaken timbred lute stop intensifies the impact of the dissonances throughout the first of Françaix’s previously unrecorded Deux Pièces. Of the three Martin≤ works, the three-movement Sonata holds the most interest with its disarmingly simple melodies that gradually veer into unpredictable, asymmetrical directions. Yet the first of his 1935 Deux Pièces features gnarly slow-moving chords that benefit from the Pleyel’s weighty bass.

Although Louis Durey’s Ten Inventions (another first recording) were originally scored for various instrumental combinations, they resonate beautifully on the Pleyel from one register to another, such as in No 3’s slowly cascading imitative passages, No 7’s wide interval leaps, No 8’s faux Bach allusions and the modal No 10’s closely overlapping counterpoint. Kudos to Lewis for exploring a fascinating corner of 20th-century harpsichord history in the right way, and to the terrific booklet-notes by Graham Wade.