Recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas on instruments of his own day are common enough, but the current UK catalogue lists no rival 'period' versions of these two (or any other) sonatas for violin and piano. Ralph Holmes plays on a 1736 Strad updated—which is to say given a longer neck—towards the end of that century; Richard Burnett uses a Graf fortepiano of 1820, apparently in all essentials preserved in its original condition. The sleeve tells us that a lot of thought went into the choice of instruments for this music, and I'm bound to agree that the two selected do result in an uncommonly agreeable tonal blend. As readers may recall, I have no great enthusiasm for the sonority of early pianos. But I found this particular Graf much more modern in its mellow smoothness over its six-and-a-half octaves, in its lack of jangle and its ability to sing, than I would have dared to hope. In fact, it seems to yield more variety of colour and a wider range of dynamics than the Strad—or is it that Burnett's phrasing, or rather his own temperamental response to the music, is just a little more personal and immediate, than that of Holmes? Certainly the violinist's discreet musicianship and restricted use of vibrato ensure that your ear is never carried away on wings of song to the exclusion of all else. Ensemble between the two artists is close in details of timing, and their balance is beyond reproach whenever one instrument must yield to the other. Yet I found myself remembering that Beethoven was a pianist, at this time still thinking through the keyboard. The recording, made at Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent, could scarcely be more clear, natural or true. All in all a welcome, judicious reminder of days of yore and music-making in the home rather than the large concert hall.'