The cello may technically be the star of the show in Mendelssohn’s two cello sonatas but they’re equally works that picked up where Beethoven had left off in terms of casting the piano as an equal partner. The first point to flag up about these period-instrument readings, then, is that pianist Mikayel Balyan is on an 1847 instrument by Mendelssohn’s favourite maker, Érard. The second is that this Érard turns out to be a beautiful match, Balyan’s multicoloured playing really showcasing the fullness and richness of tone Mendelssohn so admired, while equally capitalising on the instrument’s lighter sound in comparison to today’s pianos. Listen, for instance, to the brilliance and sparkle it lends to the jubilant piano figures closing the First Sonata’s opening Allegro vivace (and then perhaps compare with Christian Poltéra and Ronald Brautigam’s own enjoyable period readings using Mendelssohn’s alternative option of the more delicately voiced Pleyel).

Viola de Hoog herself is also a great listen for the wide range of moods, dynamics and articulation she brings to the cello lines – something you especially appreciate in the Second Sonata, spanning the entire Mendelssohn mood smorgasbord, from ardent, sweeping passion, checked with elegance, to lighter, Puck-like fluttering and more leisurely long-lined lyricism. The overall melodically and texturally responsive partnering is another draw. And while the ample church acoustic may feel too resonant in this repertoire for some, it gains brownie points elsewhere for its lack of audible fingers or breathing.

As for the Trio in D minor, this is the first period-instrument recording of Mendelssohn’s own transcription replacing the violin with a flute, penned in 1840 at his British publisher’s insistence that ‘a separate flute arrangement is indispensable in this country’. Mendelssohn himself didn’t want the arrangement’s outer movements published, believing them too involved to translate well.

As all four made it to print regardless, however, it’s all four we have here, and I’m afraid the results prove that Mendelssohn was entirely right. Even with Marten Root’s graceful and spirited playing (on a delectable-toned copy of an 1830 nine-keyed German model), the flute indeed doesn’t have the necessary weight for the outer movements. It’s all a bit like trying to partner a butterfly with stallions, and in fact even in the Andante and Scherzo it doesn’t feel like a natural substitution. So despite the period-instrument credentials and some fine playing, I’m afraid that for me this is a whole 28 minutes or so of the album that I’d rather skip. Trio aside, though, it’s well worth giving the cello sonatas a spin.