Maria Kliegel, winner of the first Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris in 1981, has made some formidable recordings for Naxos, not least of the Elgar Concerto. Here she follows a collection of Saint-Saëns cello music with a comparable collection of Fauré’s cello music, centring on the two cello sonatas, both late works. To these she adds a varied collection of pieces not all originally written for the cello, such as the song Après un rêve.

The sonatas are nicely contrasted but Kliegel’s performances with her regular accompanist Nina Tichman (her partner in the Xyrion Trio) cannot help bringing out the fact that though both works are satisfyingly compact, the musical material of No 2 is far more compelling, where the lyricism in No 1 rarely adds up to a recognisable tune. No 2 brings a crisply compact sonata-form first movement, a warmly lyrical slow movement building up to a powerful climax and a dashing finale with a spiky second subject. In both sonatas and in the shorter pieces Kliegel plays with an impressively wide dynamic range down to a mere whisper of pianissimo, perfectly articulated.

The Elégie, Fauré’s most famous cello piece, comes in a moving performance, and the fluttering Papillon, written some years later, is a brilliant companion piece. The most famous of the other pieces on the disc is the haunting Sicilienne. The Berceuse, originally for violin, has been transcribed for a number of other instruments and Après un rêve comes in a clever cello transcription. Kliegel is on top form throughout; long may her recordings for Naxos continue.