Thanks to Stephen Hough and Arcadi Volodos, Mompou’s piano music has had its moments of glory in the Gramophone Awards. His songs have not been as lucky, so this thoughtfully crafted all-Mompou recital featuring a young Catalan tenor has the double virtue of introducing a promising young singer in little-known music. The programme includes three collections – Combat del somni, the two sets of Comptines, composed 12 years apart, and the Becquerinas – with eight other songs. There is more variety than might have been expected, as Mompou’s songs explore religious ecstasy and amorous despair, childhood games and Spanish dances, and yet there is no escaping the composer’s inner flame of inspiration – that evanescent world of intimate emotions always just out of reach, drawing the inquisitive listener on.

Roger Padullés’s warm, youthful tenor makes an attractive guide to this intriguing repertoire. His style is well-schooled rather than inspiring but he captures the gently hypnotic ‘Damunt de tu només les flors’ nicely (some may recall Victoria de los Angeles’s elegant performance). The wide-eyed simplicity of the six Comptines, based on childhood songs and dances, comes across with unaffected naturalness. The six Bécquer songs, composed when Mompou was 87, venture into more red-blooded territory, especially the impassioned ‘Olas gigantes’ with its thunderous waves and storm clouds rent by lightning, vividly brought to life by Iain Burnside. Do not expect memorable tunes or gripping narratives. Mompou’s art is that of the Impressionist, a composer of half-lights and reflected images.