This is the fifth and final instalment of an interesting series that presents Beethoven’s violin sonatas in the context of music by his contemporaries. Here we are introduced to an Andreas Romberg sonata which bases its two latter movements on Scottish melodies. The middle movement is particularly charming and evocative, and even the first Allegro has a second subject that emphasises the pentatonic intervals that made Scottish melodies so beguiling to 18th-century ears.

This sonata is played most sympathetically, and I also enjoyed the Beethoven performances. Sheppard Skærved and Shorr manage the tempi of each movement most expertly; there’s enough flexibility to allow the music to breathe, and to project the contrasts between different ideas, but never at the expense of continuity. Sheppard Skærved is especially good with the more cantabile music, for instance in the sustained melodies of Op 12 No 3’s Adagio. Yet these performances wouldn’t be my first choice for Op 12. Sheppard Skærved isn’t the most demonstrative of violinists – Isabelle Faust or Alina Ibragimova both provide greater animation and a more consistent sense of involvement with the music’s details. Aaron Shorr plays with plenty of verve and energy but his tone comes over sometimes as quite hard, especially when playing Beethoven’s ‘grumpy’ bass chords. Pianos in the 1800s had a weaker but more transparent bass register, and I wonder why present-day pianists are so determined not to spread such chords. It was common practice in Beethoven’s day.