The works brought together on this new disc do not constitute Bohuslav Martin≤’s complete chamber music for flute – the four Promenades, H274, and the 1937 Trio Sonata are the notable omissions – but it does provide a good, indeed delightful, programme of the Czech master’s writing for this silkiest of woodwind instruments.

As a sonata composer Martinu tended to the concise, Classical “sounding together” model – rather than the dramatic, Romantic type – emphasising the lyrical, for all the vigour of the writing in the outer movements. The two sonatas exemplify the strengths and consistency of Martinu’s basic design, swift allegros framing slower central spans in which the main expressive weight falls. Yet H254 (which also features violin) and H306 are substantively different works, dating from either side of the Second World War (1937 and 1945 respectively).

The Madrigal Sonata (1942) and Trio in F (1944) came between, during wartime and the early years of the composer’s American exile. In both the atmosphere is a little more nostalgic, with perhaps a touch more audible trace of Czech folk influences.

Agata Igras-Sawicka proves a most sympathetic interpreter, fleet of finger and tongue in her articulation of Martinu’s angular writing. The tempi are on the swift side yet still relaxed in tone and there are many gains for all that; by contrast, the Lahti Ensemble in the Trio and the rivals in the sonatas at times seem sluggish by comparison. Marion and Hamelin, however, are the best of the competition and duplicate two-thirds of Dux’s programme. The newcomer bears the slightly weightier, more satisfying whole and, while the sound is a tad studio-bound, the programme repays repeated listening.