The main interest here is the premiere recording of the newly discovered violin and piano introduction to the Moses Fantasy: Maestoso – Recitativo – Allegro molto, two minutes and 42 seconds of extra music recently unearthed in a library in Parma (the whole story, in approximate English, is in the booklet). I wish I could say the performance was the slightest bit as rewarding as this small but admittedly intriguing addition. Luca Fanfoni’s intonation is often wayward and his tone chalky, qualities that are not heard on other recordings made on Paganini’s own violin (Accardo and Ricci inter alia). There’s a ‘that’ll do’ quality to the ensemble, but ‘that’ll do’ won’t do when so much is approximate (there’s even a quaver missing from the piano accompaniment at 3'48").

The remaining repertoire on this disc is of short early works, all of which are rarely heard – understandably because, for the most part, they are not terribly interesting, an exception being the three rather charming Ritornellos for two violins and cello. The Grande Concerto in E minor for violin and guitar turns out to be the original version of the posthumous concerto (improbably numbered No 6, though composed before the other five). It is here that Fanfoni is at his least impressive, treating Fabrizio Giudice’s delightful and self-effacing guitar accompaniment like an irritating little brother. One constantly yearns for an older boy in the shape of a symphony orchestra to put the hectoring Fanfoni in his place, while the three duetting descending chromatic passages in the last movement are poorly executed. Turn to Accardo, the LPO and Dutoit (DG) for a Paganini No 6 to set the pulse racing.