Recording Beethoven’s complete violin sonatas in Mechelen, the home of Beethoven’s forebears, during a period of near-global isolation revealed to this Scottish-Estonian duo ‘new layers of emotional and psychological intensity’, and you certainly hear this in the rapport between the two players. Vol 1 takes in (most of) the early sonatas and makes evident the rapid development in the composer’s conception of this pairing around the turn of the century and the corresponding shift in focus from instrument to instrument, notwithstanding the order in which they were indicated on the title-page.

The Belgian studio recording places an intense spotlight on the instruments, as currently fashionable, meaning it takes a few minutes to get used to the blend and contrast between them as presented. The microphone catches an edge to the sound of Michael Foyle’s violin, so piano and pianissimo dynamics come over more as a hushed tone quality than actual quiet playing. On the other hand, the sensitivity of Maksim Štšura's pianism is evident in, for example, the Adagio molto espressivo of the Spring Sonata.

In terms of performance, you miss perhaps the playfulness that characterises the allegros in recordings by Alina Ibragimova with Cédric Tiberghien or Isabelle Faust with Alexander Melnikov. Both of these duos are on the whole swifter in the Op 12 opening movements, not only lending them a lighter demeanour but also allowing the players to be more generous with first-half repeats, which are not taken on the Challenge disc. Foyle and Štšura seem more fluent in Opp 23 and 24, the balance more persuasive; perhaps these larger works are ones they have played more regularly in public. Nevertheless, the personality and integrity of this duo are evident throughout and it will be fascinating to see what they make of the later sonata masterworks of Opp 47 and 96.