The title only hints at the disc’s riches: it is a veritable “art gallery” in sound. Marianne Muller and her continuo colleagues in the Ensemble Spirale explore the ways in which 17th- and 18th-century French composers, inspired by the popularity of “literary portraits”, devised self-portraits and hommages in music to their teachers, family and friends.

Composing a tombeau was a uniquely French way of honouring the life and musical legacy of a departed colleague. The lute-playing Gautier cousins (Ennemond and Denis) were early masters of this form; this recording may indeed have been inspired by those Marais composed for his teachers, Lully and Ste Colombe.

There is more to ponder: we find Rameau’s evocation of Forqueray and the reverse as well as self-portraits. However, as both Forqueray (father and son) and Rameau were married to musicians, it may be that some of these allude to the ladies. Further pièces de caractère by Forqueray complete the CD. That the music of most of these composers is reasonably well known to us helps us today to appreciate the allusions being made.

But there is still more here to excite our interest. Muller has arranged two of Rameau’s well known Pièces de clavecin en concerts, substituting a second bass viol in the part usually taken by a flute or violin. The result is a slightly lighter, more homogeneous texture that loses none of its sparkle in translation. There are a number of solo turns as well as several heavily “orchestrated” works: we can’t be sure what either Lully or Marais would have made of the “Tombeau pour M de Lully” but it is certainly entertaining and thought-provoking. These are fascinating and eloquent performances.