César Franck’s Violin Sonata drops from the soprano and alto register to the tenor and bass-baritone in this performance by Anne Gastinel and Claire Désert, done in the cello arrangement by Jules Delsart. The vocal analogy is apt, because one of the notable aspects of the playing is its singing quality, the expressiveness that Gastinel draws from fine nuances of sound all seamlessly knit together in mellifluous lines. Shifting the music down an octave (or, at times, two) enhances the mellow timbre of the first movement, the third-movement ‘Recitativo-fantasia’ and the moments of repose in the finale.

Gastinel’s cello, described in sensual, almost Mills & Boon terms in a booklet-note, is a 1690 Testore, its rich, mature, burgundy tone ideally suited to Franck’s softer textures. Yet it can also open out gloriously in dramatic episodes, never overreaching itself but encompassing the emotional and physical contours of the music to dynamic effect. In her interpretative stance and application of colour Gastinel is ideally matched by Désert; the recorded balance is judicious and there is a real sense of a performance being created in complete accord. The same is true of Debussy’s Sonata, eloquently voiced and structured by Gastinel and Désert so that its surprises register. The pizzicatos and piano staccatos of the ‘Sérénade’, for example, are executed with whimsical panache, while the span of the sonata is achieved with organic cohesiveness. Poulenc’s Sonata adds to the variety of a programme that is played with both passion and discretion.