While Michel Corrette’s methods and writings rank alongside those by Geminiani, CPE Bach, Quantz and Tartini, fate has been less kind to his music; besides scholars, he may be best known only to cellists (and enterprising bassoonists) for whom he wrote a cello quartet and a sonata called Les délices de la solitude. Enter Canadians Paul Luchkow and Michael Jarvis to enlarge our knowledge.

Written in 1742 to please the exquisite tastes of Louis XV’s court, with the pastoral adventures of Marie Antoinette as their aesthetic backdrop, Corrette’s six Sonates pour le clavecin avec un accompagnement de violon represented a charming update to the Baroque trio sonata. Although the title assigns a secondary role to the violin, and the harpsichord’s part stands on its own, the violin adds a variety of thrilling colouristic textures and popular devices including the occasional drone of a hurdy-gurdy. And while each of the six violin sonatas has its own colourful title, the most splendid musically is the Sixth, a very un-Joycean Les voyages d’Ulysse with a slow movement of remarkable invention and beauty.

Luchkow and Jarvis apply the polished elegance the court would have expected with the relaxed intimacy that would have heightened the musical pleasure in a recording that suggests the music’s more private destinations. Playing a half-step low at A=415 gives them the space to address the charm and grace of the music, and to highlight the occasional high energy. Each rises to the occasion when short runs, brilliant trills and other feints at virtuosity are required.