This release from the repertoire-exploring Martin Jones and his piano partner Adrian Farmer brings together works for two pianos or one piano-four hands by three French composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) and Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983). 

Of the three, Hahn was the most populist, known during his lifetime for exquisite songs (he was a singer himself), piano pieces, musical comedies and operettas. The most successful of these was Ciboulette (1923). Hahn was born in Venezuela to German and Spanish parents. A student of Massenet and Saint-Säens, he retained their romantic outlook, although his later work incorporates suggestions of up-to-date styles such as jazz and the tango. 

The majority of his piano music dates from early in his career, including the Ten Waltzes for Two Pianos (1915), heard here. They drift along attractively, a charming accompaniment to a languorous summer afternoon in the salon, played with elegance and good manners by Jones and Farmer. The opening Caprice mélancolique (1897) is equally lovely in its contemplative way.