Britten and Canteloube make odd bedfellows, yet Mari Eriksmoen pairs them on her new Chandos album with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner. They almost have language in common – Britten’s settings of Rimbaud in Les illuminations and the youthful Quatre Chansons françaises are sung in French, whereas most of Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne, despite their French title, are in the local dialect, Occitan. In her booklet note, Eriksmoen explains that she spent a year studying in Paris and developed an emotional attachment to the language. Stylistically the two composers are very different, Canteloube providing a sentimental veneer to what is essentially folk music, far removed from Britten’s sophisticated musical language.

Sopranos are gradually wresting Les illuminations from the grasp of tenors. Originally premiered by the Swiss soprano Sophie Wyss in 1940, the cycle was quickly taken up by Peter Pears (dedicatee of ‘Being Beauteous’) and a whole host of (mostly English) tenors in his wake. Sandrine Piau’s account with the Royal Northern Sinfonia (NMC) has long been a favourite benchmark and, although Eriksmoen’s high notes don’t always float quite so airily, this new recording is highly persuasive. The Norwegian soprano delivers highly animated performances, rolling her ‘r’ sounds and relishing the quickfire patter of ‘Villes’. She attacks ‘Royauté’ and ‘Marine’ with insouciant swagger, while ‘Being Beauteous’ is urgently phrased. She is well partnered by Gardner, who draws incisive playing from the Bergen strings, heightening the angularity of the writing in the ‘Fanfare’ while the thrumming accompaniment to ‘Antique’ is feather-light. The Quatre Chansons françaises are just as sensitively sung.

Eriksmoen’s 40-minute Canteloube selection follows hot on the heels of Carolyn Sampson’s really enjoyable BIS album. Eriksmoen’s soprano isn’t quite as bright or light as Sampson’s but she invests these songs with vivid characterisation – there are plenty of pouting shepherdesses and lusty shepherds here. The Bergen woodwinds are mellifluous but not as extrovert as the Tapiola Sinfonietta for Pascal Rophé. Listen to the three linked Bourrées from the first series of songs as an example. BIS’s recording is more immediate, too. But if you don’t need a full disc of Canteloube and the unusual Britten pairing appeals, then Eriksmoen fits the bill in these attractive performances.