The successful Leipzig première in 1843 of Schumann’s then most ambitious undertaking, the ‘secular oratorio’ Das Paradies und die Peri, meant a great deal to him, at 33, and not least because of the satisfaction it gave his young pianist wife. Her commercially-minded father had previously dismissed him as a mere miniaturist. And how good that it has now, once more, found a rightful place in the regular choral repertory. This newest arrival comes from two concert performances in Wiesbaden and Bremen last year, and is generously offered at super-bargain price.

Live recordings bring their hazards. And in tonal beauty, clarity of detail and general musical finesse this one cannot equal the outstandingly vivid, full-price studio version given us in 1999 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner with an internationally distinguished team. But the all-German Arte Nova cast sing and play with an enthusiastic immediacy of response wholly justifying the inclusion of a final 1'57" minutes of applause. Their Hamburg-reared conductor, Joshard Daus (a Celibidache disciple), is known for a special interest in choral music, and in fact formed the Europe Chor Akademie in 1997, which helps to explain their strong conviction and characterisation of Schumann’s important choruses – whether as wild warriors, seductive spirits of the Nile, Houris, or just compassionate commentators throughout the banished Peri’s colourfully contrasted journeys in search of a gift dear enough to heaven to gain her readmittance to Paradise.

The Leipzig-trained Simone Kermes brings a bright young high soprano voice to the Peri’s tale, buoyantly over-riding all choral rivalry when required, though as yet without the more experienced Barbara Bonney’s assurance in top-note attack and elegance of line (for Gardiner). In the important role of narrator, Thomas Dewald sounds too backwardly placed (as if to distinguish him from actual protagonists) for us to enjoy his pleasing tenor delivery as much as Gardiner’s outstandingly eloquent Christoph Prégardien. Melinda Paulsen’s Angel is warmly sung, though with a shade too much vibrato for some tastes. The penitent baritone sinner at the end is keenly characterised by Elke Wilm Schulte even if lacking the honeyed lyricism of Gerald Finley (for Gardiner) in his opening aria, ‘Jetzt sank’. Even without an English translation of Thomas Moore’s original Lalla Rookh text, altogether it remains a bargain at such modest price.