It is a truth universally acknowledged that a musician in possession of talent and imagination must be in want of fresh repertoire, whether old or new. Trained at Chetham’s and the Royal Academy of Music, tested under fire in competitions and concerts and on social media – her YouTube videos have had more than 25 million views – classical guitarist Alexandra Whittingham makes her studio album debut in thoughtful fashion by taking the former option.

There are favourites as reference points. Tárrega, Mertz, Coste, Regondi and Legnani are familiar names, at least among lovers of guitar music. And few pieces are more famous than Tárrega’s study in sustained tremolo, Recuerdos de la Alhambra. But Jaime Bosch, anyone? Catharina Pratten? Frederik Rung? Ernest Shand? As Andrew Mellor records in his booklet note, Whittingham, desirous of creating ‘a general air of Romantic warmth in which shorter or more playful pieces might be “hugged” by more imposing ones’, scoured libraries, studies and the internet in search of little-known 19th-century guitar music worthy of the wider public’s attention.

The result is an enjoyable recital featuring concert and salon pieces one is not afraid to describe as utterly delightful. Key is Whittingham’s unsentimental yet beautifully expressive playing. Rung’s Humoreske, evoking some of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, is a revelation, as are Shand’s pianistic effusions. I enjoyed, too, the easy charm of Pratten’s Forgotten and Bosch’s Brimborion. They form a perfect foil to the ingratiating virtuosity of such works as Regondi’s Introduction et Caprice, with which the recital ends, brilliantly.