The handful of works Franck wrote for grande orgue – unlike the numerous gems he composed for harmonium – are well represented on disc. Many recordings have also taken the trouble to locate a wholly authentic Cavaille-Coll instrument – Michael Murray’s two-disc set for Telarc on the famous organ at St Sernin, Toulouse being the most distinguished. One thing nearly all performers of this repertoire have in common is close observance of the detail, particularly in matters of registration, of the scores; scores which generally do not suffer from either excessive editorial interference or textural ambiguity.

What, then, makes this new release exceptional? Why does it stand so imperiously out of the crowd? If Murray is a great communicator, presenting these large works in an endearingly direct and immediate way, Alain is a completely involved one. More than anyone else she delves into the very soul of these works. Thus we have an intensely prayerful Priere, a majestically statuesque Grande piece symphonique while the Chorales are delivered with an unexpected degree of fervour; perhaps the Third is a shade over-fervent since some of the semiquaver figurations lack absolute clarity – something which after only one or two hearings serves to heighten the excitement but which might, after repeated listening, become irritating.

This is a highly authoritative release not just in terms of playing but also of Alain’s accompanying notes, and it’s especially welcome to have a bar-by-bar breakdown of registrations. The Caen organ is a particularly fine specimen of a Cavaille-Coll, dating from 1884 – some 25 years after the St Clotilde organ for which Franck wrote much of this music. The recording captures it, and the church’s atmosphere, effectively.

A word of warning: anyone seeking out Alain’s memorable account of the Pastorale will find it on track 10 of the first disc, not track 9 as the listing on the box suggests.