D’Oustrac is, for many music lovers, THE Carmen of the present day and in the dramatic Élégie en prose she shows why. But the pieces by Devienne, Dalayrac et al don’t really suite her voice…The sound of Berlioz’s guitar is attractively mellow, and nearer to the modern sound of the 1842 Pleyel piano, whose delicate sonorities suit the music perfectly. Both instruments are played with great style, contributing a good deal to this disc’s value.

The old instruments sound well in Harmonia Mundi’s recording, made at the Philharmonie de Paris (which did much to support the project). Stéphanie d’Oustrac brings style and sympathy to the texts without swamping the chamber atmosphere and Tanguy de Williencourt has quite some finale to the disc with Liszt’s arrangement of the Pilgrims’ March from Harold en Italie. It makes for both an attractive programme to hear and a peep at a side of Berlioz normally left to rumour.