Violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster conceived this album as a treasure-trove of lesser-known French and Belgian repertoire, spanning the forty years from 1892 to 1932. Binding the programme together is the unseen influence of a composer whose own music never appears: César Franck, whose teaching connects Guillaume Lekeu, Mel Bonis, Charlotte Sohy and Vincent d'Indy across the generations. At its centre stands Lekeu's rarely heard Violin Sonata — chosen over Franck's own — framed by a garland of shorter pieces that begins with Sohy's Thème varié, the work that lends the disc its title, and takes in three pieces by Mel Bonis alongside two unjustly neglected Élégies by Saint-Saëns. The recital then reaches into the twentieth century with Messiaen's Thème et variations before closing on the haunting Nocturne of Elsa Barraine, Messiaen's contemporary and lifelong friend — a uniquely rewarding programme of music too seldom encountered in the concert hall.