You’d be forgiven for not knowing the names of Robert Gund (1865-1927) and Wilhelm Grosz (1894-1939). Gund (born Gound) was a popular teacher, a friend of Brahms and generally a well-established figure in Vienna’s musical life; the Viennese Grosz was a pupil of Schreker and friend of Korngold, who fled Nazi persecution to London and then to the US, where he died of a heart attack before arriving in Hollywood.

In a joint booklet note, Christian Immler and Helmut Deutsch express their dismay at their complete neglect, and you can see their point listening to this selection. Over half are premiere recordings; all are most persuasively performed. Both composers are masters of their craft, writing fluidly and with the utmost confidence.

Gund’s idiom is broadly Romantic, with echoes of Schumann’s Ballads, Loewe and Brahms. Wagner’s harmonic innovations seem largely to have passed him by, and as such his expressive palette and ambition feel limited. There’s still much to enjoy, though, much that’s charming and beguiling (give ‘Die Nachtigall’ a try, for example).

Grosz’s lieder reflect the style of later composers: harmonically ambiguous, texturally adventurous, delicately etched and often almost daringly aphoristic. Immler and Deutsch also present a quartet of charming, easy-going English songs, an indicator of Grosz’s skill in more popular genres – and what he might have gone on to achieve in Hollywood.

Those songs provide an enjoyable, touching conclusion to a very welcome album – impeccably recorded and with an informative essay by Michael Haas – that brings two forgotten figures back into the light.