You’ve probably come across Leo Fall of operetta fame, maybe even his younger brother Richard, who did some scoring in Hollywood. This album from Trio Imàge welcomes the middle sibling Siegfried to the catalogue – musically the most stern of the three, as his name would suggest. Sadly that name could not save him from being murdered by the Nazis, along with Richard.

The German trio are all geed up by their discovery, writing in the booklet of ‘astounding, imaginative ideas and innovations: music brimming with youthful emotion and lively virtuosity … and a vague presentiment of decades of terror looming on the horizon’. Justifiably so. It’s difficult to find fault with Fall’s 1899 Piano Trio in A minor and the music’s endearing qualities mean you’re soon distracted from trying. It has sweep, fluency, a capable handling of tension and release, shapely lyricism sprung from well-worked bustle and some distinctive themes and treatments – particularly the dreamlike, lilting idea in the slow movement. Fall evidently learnt from his models without being frightened or constrained by them; his confidence extends to throwing decorative elements nonchalantly around the score.

Chamber musicians, of course, love that sort of thing and Trio Imàge relish it, deservedly so having brought the piece to light. So who were Fall’s models? You don’t have to look much further than the astute coupling of Dvořák’s most Brahmsian piano trio, though Bruch and Mendelssohn clearly figure too. Imàge’s approach to both pieces is to enjoy them. They play with a sense of abandon checked by sensitivity to direction more than conversation. There’s neither the translucent Saint-Saëns aquarium of the Tetzlaffs’ recent recording in the Dvořák’s Allegro (Ondine, 12/18) nor the reactive hypersensitivity that’s creeping back into fashion, but the sense of impatience is thrilling and the impulse is clearly felt (as in the Fall).

That certainly pays off in the kicked-back coda but those seeking absolute clarity might want to listen elsewhere. Marek Dyakov’s Perperikoana, ‘from old Bulgarian legends’, is a sweet, well-crafted but insignificant appendage, though it does prove the extent of the ensemble’s colour range. In the meantime, is there any more Siegfried Fall out there?