The title ‘1828’ refers to Schubert’s final and astoundingly productive year, which brought forth the three duets and solo sonata featured on this disc. In Philippe Cassard’s hands, the declamatory dynamism of the D959 A major Sonata’s first-movement exposition takes a back seat, with an emphasis on shapely soft playing that ravishingly comes to roost throughout the movement’s development section. The pianist’s eloquent legato holds attention in the Andantino’s outer sections, yet he downplays the harrowing chromatic climax. He similarly understates the Scherzo’s explosive descending minor scales, yet his delicate, witty arpeggiation of the main theme’s leaping chords delights. While the Rondo gains assurance and momentum as it progresses, I prefer Pollini’s firmer left-hand projection in the explosive central minor episode and the intelligent architecture of his dynamics.

Cédric Pescia joins Cassard for the duets, starting with a genial and leisurely spin through the A major Rondo that differs from the faster, more transparent and poetically pliable Argerich/Freire miracle on DG. Does the strident, overly resonant recorded sound make the Lebensstürme sound more monochrome than it actually is? But the duo’s straightforward, thoughtfully balanced F minor Fantasy boasts more colour and nuance, and benefits from cohesive tempo relationships, albeit without the Perahia/Lupu linear interplay in the slow F sharp minor episode’s soft passages. As always with La Dolce Volta, the packaging is first-rate, with excellent graphics and artwork, and provocative booklet-notes that, among other things, make no apology for trimming repeats.