The programme, recorded during a single live performance in April 2013, is enticing enough, and I am particularly taken by John Lubbock’s exquisite orchestrations of a clutch of Fauré’s solo songs. Alternating the solo voice between the clear and light baritone of Johnny Herford and the rather more fulsome soprano of Ilona Domnich works well. If Herford understates Fauré’s delicate writing for the voice, Domnich gives it a more Wagnerian breadth, most obviously in ‘Fleur jetée’, where her fervently dramatic delivery seems at odds with Lubbock’s chamber-like string accompaniment.

I, for one, can never have too many Fauré Requiems on disc, especially when, as here, the performance is so deliciously restrained. There are undoubtedly some truly ravishing moments; just before Herford’s solo entry in the Offertoire – 4'15" – comes a piece of orchestral playing so sublime I find myself playing it repeatedly in isolation. But exquisite as individual moments are, taken overall I suspect this was a performance more impressive heard live than in the cold glare of CD. Lubbock’s is a careful and seamless reading, and he balances the orchestral textures superbly, but it is rather weighed down by choral singing which, perhaps, is not as polished as it might be. Evidence of uneasy blend within various voice parts is also apparent in the Pavane.

My biggest disappointment is with the sound quality which, while faithful to the close and intimate acoustic of St John’s Smith Square, feels too stifling to allow this committed music-making to be shown at best advantage.