Leone Sinigaglia, born in Turin in 1868, was a friend of Brahms in Vienna and a student of Dvořák in Prague, and was championed by musicians of the standing of Barbirolli, Furtwängler, Kreisler, Stokowski and Toscanini.

Yet he is virtually unknown even in his native Italy and apart from some of his songs on an Italian label, his music has been previously unobtainable on CD.

He was strongly inspired by Italian folksong, and became an important collector of Piedmontese folk-tunes.

His music is marked by strong melodies and a sophisticated use of harmony.

He was also a famous mountaineer, with two first climbs in the Dolomites to his credit.

He died in Turin in 1944 as he was visiting his wife in hospital. They were both Jewish; the occupying Nazi forces arrived to arrest them, and as he was pleading for them to spare her he dropped dead of a heart-attack.

His tuneful chamber music bears witness to the happy life that preceded that tragic end.