It is a moot point as to whether Chopin ever intended any of his songs should survive his death. In the event, his friend Julian Fontana tracked down 17 manuscripts and, with the family’s permission, published them posthumously as Op 74. “Czary”, originally intended for the collection but removed by Fontana, and “Dumka”, an earlier version of Op 74 No 13, make up the complete cycle.

Though I have a soft spot for the ripe mezzo of Eugenia Zareska and her 1955 recording with Giorgio Favaretto, the best version currently available is by mezzo Urszula Kryger and Charles Spencer (Hyperion, 2/00R). This new recording, however, from sisters Olga and Natalya Pasichnyk, is a serious rival. Presented, unlike Kryger, in numerical order, each song is individually characterised by Olga’s expressive and agile soprano – she can exchange a soubrette lightness for a rich chest tone at the drop of a hat – relishing the text with greater charm than Kryger but equally sensitive to the dominant characters of nostalgia, lovelorn youth and folkloric innocence. Natalya, slightly more backwardly placed than Spencer, follows her sister’s every twist and turn with remarkable empathy.

Added attractions are four of the 12 songs the great Spanish singer and friend of Chopin, Pauline Viardot-García (1821-1910), adapted from Chopin’s Mazurkas. Taken from the first set, published in 1864, they include “Aime-moi” (first recorded in 1907 by Marcella Sembrich to her own accompaniment) and “Coquette” with spectacular added vocal cadences. Hyperion, with four other Viardot adaptations, offers the complete texts and excellent annotation. Naxos, alas, does not – but don’t let that deter you from hearing this impressive sororial debut.