By my reckoning‚ this is the third version of Frank Bridge’s marvellous Cello Sonata to have come my way within the last six months or so. It is also‚ I’m inclined to think‚ the best of the bunch. The Norwegian duo of Øystein Birkeland and Vebjørn Anvik lend gloriously unaffected and formidably lucid advocacy to Bridge’s masterwork‚ the strength and nobility of their playing always ideally counterbalanced by tender restraint and songful intimacy. These superbly stylish performers prove no less responsive to the poetic charms of Bridge the miniaturist. The winsome Serenade of 1903 is a fresh­faced delight here‚ while the 1902 Scherzo fairly twinkles with mischievous humour. How memorably‚ too‚ they sustain the long­breathed ardour of both the Elégie (1904) and Mélodie (written in 1911 and dedicated to the cellist Felix Salmond). Sandwiched between the Bridge Sonata and a sequence of miniatures comes a really fine account of the Cello Sonata that Britten penned for Rostropovich in 1960­61. Here‚ too‚ Birkeland and Anvik form an intelligent‚ scrupulously observant partnership‚ their playing as thoughtful as it is intense‚ though not even they can match the extraordinary fluidity that Rostropovich and Britten bring to the work’s opening bars on their inspirational première recording for Decca (a true classic of the gramophone). Among digital contenders‚ however‚ this beautifully engineered and sensitively balanced newcomer is as good as any and more imposing than most. Calum MacDonald contributes the exemplary booklet­essay. All told‚ a very positive recommendation.