This recording of the 1893 version of Fauré’s Requiem is notable for the presence of Philippe Jaroussky. Traditionally sung by a boy’s or a female voice, the real shock is just how well suited Jaroussky’s countertenor turns out to be for the ‘Pie Jesu’. There is astonishing purity even in the very highest register and a level of restrained drama that transforms this into something of quite extraordinary impact. There will be those who dislike it, but for my part Jaroussky elevates a performance which in every other respect is devoid of real character or insight.

Matthias Goerne has considerable but by no means overpowering presence – of the many baritones who have tackled this, he certainly is way up there with the best of them – and the Orchestre de Paris is nicely discreet. But Paavo Järvi has none of the Gallic intensity of Laurence Equilbey, nor does his choir have anything like the polish, the expressive range or the glorious richness of tone of Accentus. I have to say, too, the Naïve recording (in Paris’s Ste-Clotilde) is in a class of its own.

The real interest in this new disc is a rare outing for Fauré’s very first choral piece, Super flumina Babylonis. It is certainly no overlooked masterpiece but a remarkably serious and often quite operatic utterance from an 18-year-old student, showing more the influence of his teacher, Saint-Saëns, than clues to Fauré’s own future development as a composer. However, the very best thing on the disc is the Elégie, where Eric Picard captures the essence of the lovely cello solo while Järvi’s skills in shaping and characterising an accompaniment shine through in some enchanting articulation from solo clarinet and oboe.