Here are two quite distinct interpretative visions of Brahms’s violin sonatas. Ostrovsky and Morozova are a thoughtful duo who like to take their time. Their reading of Op 78 is affectionate and overwhelmingly lyrical, so much so that the contrasts written into the opening movement are relatively muted. Op 108 is broadly paced, too, and some passages in the first movement come across as a bit stodgy – the first forte (at 0'45"), for example. Their performance of Op 100 is also leisurely but more attentive to detail overall, particularly when it comes to characterisation. Morozova is sensitive to the Allegro amabile’s myriad and subtle harmonic delights, and both players take great care over transitions so that each movement flows with ease. The central Andante tranquillo is played very sweetly and simply, while the contrasting Vivace sections are light on their feet. Note, too, how finely spun Ostrovsky’s tone is in the high-lying passages of the Andante’s final return.

Turning to the new Decca recording by Akiko Suwanai (winner of the 1990 Tchaikovsky Competition) and Evgeni Bozhanov, we encounter an entirely different kind of Brahmsian playing. Ostrovsky and Morozova employ rubato – note the elasticity of their phrasing in the opening of Op 108 – but Suwanai and Bozhanov are exceptionally free in their handling of tempo. I can imagine some listeners being put off by some of the liberties they take, but if you’re a fan of, say, Furtwängler’s Brahms, I have a feeling you’ll love these performances as much as I do. And I fell in love with them straight away, from the first phrases of Op 78, thanks to Suwanai’s copious application of expressive portamento. And then, less than a minute in (at 0'58", to be exact), she and Bozhanov nudge the tempo forwards, generating tremendous excitement. These are, above all, eventful performances that bring the music blazingly to life.

Bozhanov is rapturously improvisatory in his opening solo of Op 78’s Adagio, and the way he and Suwanai mould phrases is almost sculptural (listen at 3'19", for instance). In Op 100’s Allegro amabile, the bar lines seem to melt away (try at 1'51"), while in the finale Bozhanov finds countless felicities in passages that other pianists treat as mere accompaniment. And while the duo don’t push hard in Op 108’s final Presto agitato, they ratchet up the intensity as the movement progresses so the coda is practically cataclysmic. Not everyone will respond to their freedoms with tempo in this same sonata’s scherzo-like third movement, but its playful attitude provides much-needed respite from the remainder of the work’s gravitas.

For years now my benchmarks in this repertoire have been Mullova and Anderszewski, and Tetzlaff and Vogt, but they’re now joined by these astonishingly individual accounts from Suwanai and Bozhanov.