Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen’s Benjamin Godard album forms a sequel to their surveys of Félicien David and Edouard Lalo (2/16) as part of Aparté’s series, ongoing one hopes, devoted to the lesser-known 19th-century French song composers. Godard (1849 95) was prolific in the genre, producing over 160 mélodies in the course of his shortish career. Most were written before 1876, when he began to gravitate towards larger forms.

Wary of the Wagnerism that infiltrated French music from the 1860s onwards, Godard was something of a traditionalist, in the best sense of the word, preferring strophic forms over experimental word-setting. He was a wonderful melodist, always allowing the vocal line to carry the primary meaning, and his accompaniments, telling if uncomplicated, became more sparse with time: among his last songs ‘Message’, with which the recital closes, supports the singer with the barest of arpeggiated chords.

The two cycles round which the disc is structured – the Six Fables de La Fontaine (1872) and the Nouvelles chansons du vieux temps (1874) – recall French 17th-century and Renaissance traditions respectively, both in choice of text and musical allusion. Elsewhere, a discreet eroticism prevails in his choice of Romantic poets, Victor Hugo above all, though he also attempted a setting of Baudelaire’s ‘L’invitation au voyage’, very different from Duparc’s more familiar version, both in its urgency of mood and its avoidance of chromatic density.

Christoyannis is superb throughout. He proves a natural story-teller in the La Fontaine fables, with each of the characters, animal or human, subtly yet sharply delineated. The Nouvelles chansons glitter with elegance and bawdy wit and his intimate, caressing way with the Hugo and Baudelaire settings is utterly captivating and at times very sexual. Cohen has less chance to shine but plays everything with admirable limpidity and poise. Genuine charm is a rare quality, but it’s one that Godard and Christoyannis possess in spades. A beautiful disc, highly recommended.