Taken on its own terms, this is an extremely good programme: three significant sonatas, all of them born in 1942 and all reflecting, in one way or another, a world at war, Poulenc and Copland expressing, in their very different ways, pain of loss (Poulenc’s Sonata was written largely at the behest of the ill-fated Ginette Neveu), Prokofiev kept largely out of danger by the protective Russian authorities, though the bittersweet Andante third movement of his Second Sonata spells certain sadness. Benjamin Baker and Daniel Lebhardt connect well with the spirit of each piece, the Poulenc coming off best though in the finale the more mercurial Patricia Kopatchinskaja (Alpha, 2/18, with the superb pianist Polina Leschenko) becomes a firefly darting about at dead of night, even faster than Baker, with lightning trills near the end before momentarily widening her vibrato. If it’s possible to be playfully tragic (the movement is after all marked Presto tragico), that’s Kopatchinskaja’s ploy. I wouldn’t necessarily prefer it to the version under review but it has a voice of its own, as does the highly personal version featuring Yehudi Menuhin with Jacques Février at the piano (Warner Classics, 3/76).

In the Prokofiev, Baker has a habit of either suspending vibrato or factoring it in once the note has started. The opening of the second movement has a touch of awkwardness about it but soon settles down. As to rival versions, James Ehnes is marginally more subtle with Andrew Armstrong (Chandos, 10/13) than with the more overtly expressive Wendy Chen (Analekta, 10/00), but if you want top dollar in this music then it has to be Gidon Kremer with Martha Argerich (DG, 10/92), coupled with the First Sonata.

In Copland’s noble Sonata, a masterpiece and no mistaking, which the present duo play extremely well, two versions with Copland himself at the piano also beg serious consideration. The most recent, in crystal-clear stereo, features Isaac Stern (Sony), superb playing in all respects, swifter than Baker and Lebhardt and noticeably more intense. More intense still is Louis Kaufman (recorded in 1949 and recently reissued on Profil), whose sweet-centred approach is so utterly natural he makes the work sound as if it was written especially for him. So, bottom line, a useful, stimulating and well-recorded means of learning some fine chamber music from a difficult period; but if you’re after the very best versions of the Copland and the Prokofiev sonatas, I’d recommend you look elsewhere. Andrew Mellor’s annotations are superb.