Members of the redoubtable Quintette Moraguès recorded a good deal in the first decade of the present century. Michel Moraguès’s ‘breezy reading’ of Poulenc’s Flute Sonata attracted the attention of Gramophone (Saphir, 12/08) while much else remained under the radar. The present single-composer selection from May 2006 might appear to overlap with Mark Bebbington’s more recent Poulenc series (Resonus, 6/20, 8/21), only the larger-scale works common to both are performed here in reductions that may or may not have been made expressly for the Paris-based ensemble. The transcription of the ‘concerto choréographique’ Aubade is credited to Ohtaki Katsuhisa in the track-listing on page 2 of the booklet and to the group’s oboist David Walter on page 9. The poorly translated booklet note placed in between leaves us none the wiser, drawing attention to instrumental features of the score absent in the version actually played. To add to the confusion, the Toccata launching the Aubade is conjoined to the preceding Trio, an oddity of my online review copy that will perhaps have been spotted prior to the definitive release. Also heard in unfamiliar guise is the Suite française, its material arguably better suited to the instrumental line-up than the sometimes austere Aubade. If the above doesn’t put you off, the packaging at least looks attractive.

Another potential drawback lurks in the very naturalness of the recording. The sound team of Michaël Appleman and Nikolaos Samaltanos conjure up a distinctive three-dimensional space (the venue is the Conservatoire of Carrières-sur-Seine) rather than arranging the instruments across some synthetic soundstage. Emmanuel Strosser is the accomplished pianist whose crystalline, subtly shaded playing has to contend with occasional acoustic blurring. The sound of Pierre Moraguès’s horn can bounce back at us as if from a distant wall.

If this reads like a litany of complaint, the music-making itself is hugely enjoyable, just the thing to lift the spirits on a dismal day – as long as one doesn’t look too closely or ask too many questions. Such engaging fare will always merit renewed exposure.