Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen continue their survey of the lesser-known French song repertory with this splendid disc of mélodies by Fernand de La Tombelle (1854-1928), a titled aristocrat, best known in his day as a virtuoso organist, though he also combined composition with work as a folklorist, writer and amateur astronomer. His songs were primarily written for performance at the salons he and his wife Henriette regularly hosted in their Paris apartment or their chateau in the Dordogne. The texts of many are attributed simply to an ‘unknown author’ – thought to be Henriette herself, who was a playwright under the pseudonym Camille Bruno.

The songs themselves are variable. Duparc’s influence is detectable in many of them, though one also notices a fondness for ‘endless melodies’ – self-referential but unrepeating – that suggests a strong familiarity with Wagnerian methodology. The best of him is wonderful. Among the high points are a ravishing setting of Lamartine’s ‘Ischia’, its bittersweet mood beautifully conveyed, and the haunting ‘Chant-Prière pour les Morts de France’, an elegy for the fallen in the First World War. He’s less successful, though, when it comes to genre pieces and folk-song arrangements. The orientalisms of ‘Cavalier mongol’ don’t quite convince. ‘La pernette’, based on a traditional Burgundian tune, goes on for ever and leaves you with an un-dislodgeable earworm.

There’s no mistaking the fineness of Christoyannis’s artistry. He sculpts phrases with great refinement and warmth of tone. There’s some superb soft singing here, above all in the melancholy ‘Passez, nuages roses’ and the regretful ‘Souvenir’. His way with words is immaculate, as one might expect: in ‘Ischia’ we’re aware we’re listening to great poetry as well as beautiful singing; his verbal dexterity steers us through ‘La pernette’, with its dialogues and multiple characters, though it doesn’t quite redeem the song. La Tombelle’s piano-writing is effective, if sometimes sparse: Cohen plays with subtlety and strength. It’s all faultlessly done.