It seems outrageous at this remove that Felix, Fanny’s younger brother, not only actively discouraged the publication of his sister’s works but passed some of them off as his own. For a woman to aspire to be a professional composer, he felt, was unseemly for her gender and social status. It was not until 1846, despite having been Mrs Mendelssohn-Hensel for 18 years, that she felt able to break free of her brother’s influence and publish her first work (an Andante in G major). Das Jahr, composed between August 28 and December 23, 1841, and preceding Tchaikovsky’s similar exercise by 34 years, was not unearthed until 1989.

The cycle abounds with stylistic similarities and allusions to Felix’s works with fleeting glimpses of Songs Without Words (June) and the Rondo capriccioso (February). Those with sharp ears will recognise sly quotes from the Serenade and Allegro giocoso (March), a theme from the Capriccio brillante (April) and, in December, a treatment of the chorale Vom Himmel hoch which had attracted Felix in his 1831 cantata. The use of other chorales, as Mendelssohn scholar R Larry Todd points out, reveals “an overarching programmatic design organised around the Protestant calendar”.

I hope the above is sufficient to persuade any sceptics that the 13 pieces (Fanny appends a short postlude, again citing a chorale) are a valuable and rewarding addition to this genre of the literature. The young Latvian pianist Lauma Skride, sister of violinist Baiba, follows the modern edition to the letter but beyond this brings an engaging and affectionate playfulness to the music – she is superbly recorded, by the way – so that if Fanny deserved better in her lifetime, she could hardly hope for a better champion in ours.