Here is presented the heart of the small, carefully wrought oeuvre of a French composer whose name became a byword for compositional fastidiousness no less than that of his compatriots Ravel and Dutilleux. Of course, these latter two wrote no sacred music, whereas Maurice Duruflé was a cradle and devout Catholic, who regarded his art as at the service of the Church and composed almost no secular music beyond a set of three orchestral dances of refined instrumental colour and rhythmic sophistication.

Indeed, it was Duruflé's talents as an orchestrator that have led some to prefer the later, full‐orchestra version of his most famous work, the Requiem, over the original version for choir and organ alone which has more obvious liturgical possibilities.

However, the difficulty and intimacy of the organ part providing most of the Requiem's musical interest while the chorus sings relatively simple Gregorian‐derived melodies and accompaniments, can be no less compelling in its own right, and indeed gains interest when presented, as it is here, with the composer's other works for both choir and organ, not least the four unaccompanied penitential motets, standbys for any decent choir but no less perfect for all that.

Leeds Cathedral's titular organist is Adriano Falcioni, who has already made a pair of fine albums for Brilliant Classics including the complete organ works of César Franck. Here he tackles the fearsome intricacy of Duruflé's Prelude and fugue written in memory of his prodigiously gifted but tragically short‐lived contemporary Jehan Alain, and the hardly less challenging brilliance of the Op.5 Suite with its characteristically French final Toccata.