Lavish packaging in the shape of a richly illustrated book detailing the history and design of the 1751 Dupont organ in the magnificent Church of St Jacques in Lunéville, north-eastern France, disguises what is, in effect, a single CD recording of a programme covering 200 years of French organ music which, in the words of Gilles Cantagrel, “shows how composers cultivated a taste for colour”.

When it comes to organ colour you won’t get anything more dazzling than this. Frédéric Desenclos has chosen a glorious collection of pieces encompassing a crazy storm by Lefébure-Wély, a delicate pastoral scene by Franck, enchanting echo effects from Daquin and two very different outbursts of extreme celebratory fervour. One is from the early-18th-century Henry Desmarest, the other from Widor 200 years later and about which nothing remains to be said other than it sounds, like everything else here, absolutely perfect for this magnificent organ and is played with tremendous verve and enthusiasm. All is recorded in absolutely top-notch sound.

Space forbids a detailed discussion of the booklet with its sumptuous photography and splendidly written (and elegantly translated) essays. It also forbids a close discussion of the music itself, not all of which is as readily familiar as the Widor Toccata or as unutterably banal as the Lefébure-Wély. And it certainly leaves no room for any detailed critical scrutiny of Desenclos’s performances. But, for once, space isn’t necessary. Everything about this can be summed up in a single word: stupendous.