Here’s another strong performance of Frank Bridge’s masterly Cello Sonata‚ its clear­sighted purposefulness and dedication in every way a match for Lowri Blake’s excellent recent account with Iwan Llewelyn­Jones. Penelope Lynex plays with authority and fervour (though there are a couple of tiny slips at 3'20" and 12'21" in the second movement that might have merited a retake)‚ and Alexander Wells’ support is a model of tasteful discretion and scrupulous alertness. Ultimately I would not prefer this admirably lean newcomer to Blake’s account (which has just a touch more yielding tenderness and rapt poetry about it)‚ let alone the classic Rostropovich/Britten version‚ but it remains an impressive‚ deeply felt account none the less. A pleasing intelligence and stylish unsentimentality inform the rest of Somm’s programme‚ covering all of Bridge’s music for cello and piano. Outstanding tracks from a sequence spanning some 17 years include the pungently expressive Elégie of 1904 and wistful Morning Song from 1918. We also get the 1912 Three Pieces for solo piano‚ a charming triptych whose centrepiece is a reworking of an earlier Minuet from 1901. The sound is beautifully clean and the balance expertly judged. On my copy‚ however‚ there were a couple of weird glitches during the first 15 seconds of track 5 (Serenade); and Bridge was born in 1879‚ not 1874.