Back in 2016 I enjoyed the forthright drive of Julian Bliss playing Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet with the Carducci Quartet (Signum, 7/16), so it’s good news that he’s now recorded the two sonatas, teaming up with another ‘JB’, James Baillieu. That forthright drive is largely absent in the first movement of the F minor Sonata – there’s little appassionato about this Allegro – where something more impetuous was needed.

Elsewhere, though, these are satisfying accounts, unhurried, with a fine sense of musical partnership. Bliss has a nice, firm tone that lies somewhere between Thea King and the rounder, fuller sound of Michael Collins, my preferred choice on modern instruments when I surveyed the two sonatas in a Collection last year (5/20). The second movement is beautifully poised, particularly Baillieu’s sensitive playing, while there is a lovely sense of momentum to the Allegretto grazioso. Baillieu sets a slightly cautious pace for the finale, which comes across as jocular in spirit rather than anything more capricious.

The mellow fruitfulness of the E flat Sonata’s opening Allegro amabile is most winning, allowing the music to unfold rhapsodically. The middle movement – another Allegro appassionato – doesn’t dance, but they don’t (correctly) slow down for the central Sostenuto section. The finale is wholly successful, launching into the Allegro section (4'48") with real flair.

How to complete a disc of the Brahms sonatas? Collins added a couple of Carl Reinecke works, including one dedicated to Brahms’s muse, Richard Mühlfeld. Bliss has had the intriguing idea to arrange the Four Serious Songs, Op 121, for clarinet. This is the work Brahms composed directly after the sonatas and the darkness and introspection of the songs suit the clarinet well, particularly the setting of ‘O Tod, wie bitter bist du’, making these a soulful interlude between sonatas.