Laurent Wagschal’s complete survey of Fauré’s solo piano works has much to recommend it. In contrast to the luminescent cool characterising Lucas Debargue’s recent cycle, Wagschal’s broader, more massive approach might be considered Brahmsian, with textures built from the bottom up and bass lines to the fore. Considering the composer’s contrapuntal subtlety, it’s a valid and often convincing approach.

Here are just a few examples of what I mean. Compare Debargue’s shimmering melodies and animated transparency against Wagschal’s expansive warmth in the Barcarolle No 6, or the long-lined floating quality in Debargue’s Nocturne No 5 that contrasts with Wagschal’s faster pacing and more prominent left-hand chords. Like Robert Casadesus, Debargue paints the F sharp Impromptu’s whole-tone flurries in tonal pastels (figuratively speaking), while Wagschal’s détaché articulation and melodic pointing are closer to Vladimir Horowitz’s 1977 recording. In the Thème et variations, Op 73, Debargue’s glittery evenness of voicing and stellar control projects an altogether different sound world from Wagschal’s darker, almost Schumannesque contours. In Debargue’s hands, the four charming Valse-caprices lilt effervescently, while Debargue is gentler, more yielding. It’s a matter of apples versus oranges, or, more specifically, a choice between Debargue’s fish and Wagschal’s meat. In short, these two cycles complement one another, and I would not want to be without either of them.