Limerick-born George Alexander Osborne (1806-93) studied piano and composition with Frédéric Kalkbrenner in Paris, where he became a close friend of Chopin. During the 1840s, Osborne moved for good to England, winning renown as a virtuoso performer and teacher, before eventually rising to the post of director of both the Royal Academy of Music and Philharmonic Society of London.

Osborne remains best-known (if at all) for his Valse brillante for piano entitled La pluie de perles (‘The Shower of Pearls’), composed in Paris but first published in England in 1848 – and a great favourite of the Victorian salon. However, this enterprising collection also reveals that this figure’s gifts were not exclusively as a miniaturist. Berlioz for one thought Osborne’s piano trios ‘lofty in style and spacious in design’; No 3 in G major displays fluency and craft, allied to a not inconsiderable melodic flair (the first movement’s second subject in particular lingers in the memory) and a lively sense of humour (try the paprika-flavoured finale). Other stand-out items include the Cello Sonata in B flat major that appeared in 1876 (a clarinet transcription followed 16 years later), the charming, aforementioned La pluie de perles, as well as the dashing Fantasia on tunes from Balfe’s opera The Rose of Castille (both date from the same year, 1857).

Sympathetic, generally deft performances and a clean (if occasionally fractionally hard-edged) recording enhance the attractions of this useful release on the RTÉ Lyric FM label. Pianist Una Hunt supplies the highly readable and informative booklet-notes.