Given that I encounter Brahms’s Op 120 Sonatas in their alternative viola versions nearly as often as the clarinet originals, it’s odd that I so rarely hear the corresponding viola version of the Op 114 Clarinet Trio. And it’s rather a pity, for while there’s undeniable magic in the velvety combination of clarinet and cello, the more integrated sound of two string instruments has its own rewards – note, for example, the perfect dovetailing of the interlocking figures at 4'03" in the first movement. Indeed, hearing it in its ‘viola trio’ guise highlights the music’s closer-than-expected relationship to the Double Concerto, Op 102 – also in A minor.

The performance on this handsomely recorded Alpha disc is flexibly paced and attentive to details of dynamics and articulation, with a raptly sustained Adagio and the most sweetly nostalgic third movement I’ve heard. I only wish Miguel da Silva and his colleagues were more emphatic in the work’s final measures, where their interpretation conveys an unexpected feeling of defeat. Perhaps this reflects Xavier Phillips’s description of the Trio in the booklet note (comparing it to the Op 99 Cello Sonata) as ‘gentle and poignant’ and ‘without any hint of effusiveness’.

It seems Phillips’s colleagues have similar feelings about the Op 120 Sonatas. So, like Antoine Tamestit and Cédric Tiberghien in their recent Harmonia Mundi recording, da Silva and Guy begin the F minor Sonata at what I hear as a far cry from Allegro appassionato. Thankfully, they gather steam as they go, and by the time they get to the coda, they’re on fire. In the opening Allegro amabile of the E flat Sonata, they’re even more daringly expansive, which, combined with a penchant for slowing ever so slightly at phrase ends, makes the movement appear episodic. Other than a stodgy start in the theme-and-variations finale, however, there’s still plenty to savour in these performances. I love the vulnerability da Silva finds in the second movement’s Trio section and the winsome delicacy with which they waltz through the F minor Sonata’s Allegretto grazioso, as well as the sense of euphoria they bring to that sonata’s finale.

Still, for this exact same coupling, Power, Hugh and Crawford-Phillips (Hyperion) prove more consistently satisfying; or if you desire a bit more emotional intensity, turn to Andreas Willwohl, Isang Enders and Daniel Heide (AVI-Music), where the Mandelring Quartet’s violinist vividly demonstrates the expressive power of portamento.