Louise Farrenc (1804-75) lived her entire life in Paris where her fluent and assured music attracted lavish praise and a recommendation from Schumann. Yet despite Monique Devaux’s tumultuous claims (‘teeming with ideas’, ‘bold strokes of harmony’, ‘true profundity of style’, etc) Farrenc’s later near-oblivion is understandable. It is an exaggeration to say that she is comparable to Mendelssohn and Schumann.

Nonetheless, one is grateful to Naïve and the Auditorium du Louvre for access to a composer whose Op 38 Nonet, in particular, is finely crafted and where each instrument is given an opportunity to shine. The Scherzo’s gently cantering rhythm and cuckoo-call near the close are notable delights and Farrenc can tie up her often intricate argument with a typically Gallic neatness and insouciance.

The second subject of the Variations concertantes for violin and piano may strike a homely note but the busy piano writing (both here and in the Trio) remind you of the composer’s virtuoso credentials and of a possible debt to Czerny: the brief whirl of the first of the Etudes makes you look forward to hearing further solo piano compositions. The many artists involved in this enterprising project – and particularly Brigitte Engerer, the hard-working pianist – do everything possible to give the composer a strong and stylish profile. These are live, well recorded performances with applause included only after the Trio.