The composers represented here in this imaginative and varied programme are some of the 19th century’s finest practitioners of salon music. It is our loss that these miniature gems that so delighted earlier generations, many of which were recorded by some of the greatest instrumentalists of the past, are so rarely programmed these days.

Take the very first track: Zarzycki’s Mazurka No 1, recorded with great élan by Maud Powell back in 1909, Bronisaw Huberman in 1929 and a fabulous account by Ossy Renardy (the first man to record Paganini’s 24 Caprices complete), made in 1941 with the pianist Walter Robert. It fizzes and sparkles, with the extra frisson of Zarzycki’s rapid (bowed) downward semiquaver runs supplanted by Renardy’s electrifying left-hand pizzicato scales. Jones and Price must surely know these recordings, so it is puzzling why they have chosen to take such a studied approach with a laboriously careful tempo somewhat below vivo.

After this disappointing start, one quickly realises that, while Jones eschews showy virtuosity, his strengths lie elsewhere – a gorgeous cantabile tone in the long-breathed phrases of Paganini’s Op 19, Raff’s Cavatina, Braga’s Serenade, Vecsey’s Valse triste and other old favourites that pop up among the 23 titles. Still, some of this music needs to be played with more of a twinkle in the eye (try Sarasate’s arrangement of Moszkowski’s Guitarre, a far cry from Heifetz’s debonair high jinks).

Laub’s Canzonetta, Raff’s Après le coucher du soleil and Benoit Hollander’s Mazurek are premiere recordings, as is the selection of five of the 12 Bagatelles, Op 13, by François Schubert (1808-78), of which No 9 is ‘The Bee’ (heard here – albeit somewhat tamely – in its original 1860 version rather than in the celebrated transcription by Wilhelmj).

Marcus Price’s sympathetic accompaniments are judged to perfection, with his Model B Steinway ideally suited to the task. And though hiring Plumcroft Primary School (Plumstead, south London) during the Christmas holidays must have cost less than most recording venues, the acoustic is warmer and the ambience more welcoming than many a costly studio.

Apart from the high-quality booklet with Vaughan Jones’s outstanding notes (though he gets the key of Moszkowski’s Op 3 wrong), you certainly get your money’s worth with a total running time of 82'50".