Only in 2007 was Messiaen’s early Fantaisie for violin and piano at long last published. The composer’s suppression of this companion piece to the Thème et variations is understandable. Thème et variations offers a powerful and distinctive response to a musical language emerging from Fauré, then taken up by Roussel, Honegger and, ultimately, Dutilleux. The Fantaisie is no less powerfully expressive but its material is less distinguished, its stylistic associations reaching as far back as César Franck. All the same, it provides a fascinating glimpse of Messiaen’s formative years, and both pieces are well projected here by Alexander Janiczek and Philip Moore. This intriguing group of the composer’s smaller-scale chamber pieces is completed by the birdsong excursion for flute and piano, Le merle noir, and a very late piece for piano quintet which could be the offshoot of any number of his birdsong-dominated ensemble scores.

The members of the Hebrides Ensemble are on much more familiar territory with the Quartet for the End of Time, and I can’t say that their performance strikes new interpretative ground: that would be asking a lot with so many distinguished recordings available. I particularly like the way they bring out the extreme contrasts between the meditative movements and episodes (though at the loss of some of the sensuous intensity found in other versions) and the more exuberant, aggressive earthbound music. Their ferocity and unanimity in the taxing “Danse de la fureur pour les sept trompettes” is second to none, and this movement also brings out the strengths of the super-clear recording. Elsewhere the weight and resonance of the piano occasionally threatens a degree of imbalance.