In an era when many French composers produced Italianate sonatas, Leclair wrote with the particular authority he gained from having studied in Italy: his music is idiomatic but ‘dangerous’, melodious but also surprisingly quirky. A natural showman, who performed violin sonatas and concertos in the first public concerts held in Paris, he clearly enjoyed surprising and amazing his audiences. His music isn’t easy to bring off in performance because the original sense of its novelty has faded, leaving players today with the challenge of illuminating and balancing the subtle clues that remain and, possibly, because of the complex character of the man himself.

The violinist Adrian Butterfield, well known for his stylish performances of Handel, has a genuine affinity for Leclair’s music. Having completed a three-disc set of Leclair’s Op 1 Sonatas in 2009 (11/09, 2/10), he turns here to Op 2 (1728), with a recording of the first five sonatas and a trio (No 8) in which the viol, beautifully played here by Jonathan Manson, is an equal partner with the violin. Some of the sonatas, Nos 1, 3 and 5 in particular, are equally suited to the flute, in contrast to Nos 2 and 4, which are distinctly violinistic, incorporating staccato bowings and extensive double-stopping, not to mention fiendish bariolage and double trills. Technically and musically, Butterfield is a marvel. He may, however, be too nice – something that couldn’t be said of Leclair.

That darker side is played down, too, in the Four Nations Ensemble’s recording. Charles Brink plays the two Op 9 sonatas on the flute, revelling in the elegance and playfulness of the music, if not the demons hidden therein. More dynamic contrast in repeated motifs (echo) and greater ‘bloom’ (enflé) on sustained tones over dissonant harmony would have been welcome, especially in the andante movements (trs 1 and 12). The ensemble give a polished, affectionate reading of Leclair’s Op 8 Recréation, a suite of dances with overture for four instruments reminiscent of Couperin’s Les nations, positively fizzing in the ‘Tambourin’ that brings it to a close. Wonderful tributes on the 250th anniversary of his death.