From the start of Nuits d’Afrique, the flute weaves its sensuous lines around the soprano voice and echoes of Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses hang in the air. It turns out this is not a coincidence, as Judith Weir wrote her hypnotically beautiful song-cycle in 2015 to stand alongside the Ravel in a recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She has done an expert job, conjuring an exotic locale every bit as Impressionist and alluring as Ravel’s in her four settings of contemporary African women poets. (One wry poem about a vegetarian crocodile could just as happily have slotted into his Histoires naturelles.) Ailish Tynan, the singer at the premiere, and flute, cello and piano from the Hebrides Ensemble have been rewarded with one of the most enjoyable song-cycles of recent years.

The title of the disc, ‘Airs from Another Planet’, refers to the last of the seven works included here. A sextet dating back to 1986, this is a fantastical early work that imagines a group of prospective Mars colonists marooned in preparation on a remote Scottish island for generations, during which time their memories of traditional airs have faded, leaving a series of brilliant short pieces for wind with only a slight Scottish tang. As well as Nuits d’Afrique, there are three other first recordings: the hymn-like O viridissima for piano, violin and cello (2015), derived from Hildegard of Bingen; the inventive piano solo Day Break Shadows Flee (2014), first played by Benjamin Grosvenor at a lunchtime BBC Prom; and another short song-cycle, Really? (2012), vividly performed by Tynan, which contrasts three types of word-setting: spoken, Sprechstimme and fully sung. I am not sure how often I would want to hear this cycle, intriguing though the idea is. All the other pieces on the disc are vintage Weir, so economical in their acuity, and sparklingly performed.