These three early works of the French composer Maurice Emmanuel (1862–1938) show him emerging from the influence of César Franck to find an individual voice.

The ambitious Violin Sonata, almost half an hour in duration, is here receiving its first recording. The Suite on Greek Folksongs, arrangements of Greek folk material, as the title suggests - wiry and winsome by turn, attest to Emmanuel’s deep knowledge of Greek music. The texts of the song-cycle Musiques, here receiving only its second recording, are by the poet, geographer and historian Louis de Launay – a polymath like Emmanuel, who was a scholar of the music of ancient Greece.

The French violinist Frédéric Angleraux performs both as soloist and chamber musician - he was first violin of the Quatuor Johannes until 2006 and now plays with the Schumann Quartet of Geneva. The mezzo soprano Hélène Hébrard has sung in Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, the Purcell Room, in Barbados, and elsewhere. In 2011 she won the prize for French mélodie in the international song competition Les Symphonies d’Automne in Mâcon.

François Killian performs widely in France and German and has also appeared at the Wigmore Hall in London and in Tokyo. He has been active in the rediscovery of the composer Paul Juon (1872–1940) and he has recorded several of his piano works.