Schubert composed this trio of small-scale sonatas in the spring of 1816, right around the time he was at work on his Fourth Symphony. They make a lovely set for an hour’s worth of listening, for while they’re clearly cut from the same cloth, each work has its own distinct character.

Here, unfortunately, Zachary Carrettín and Mina Gajic´ – playing on period instruments – are interpretatively straightforward to the point of bluntness. In the songlike Andante of D384, for instance, they make me uneasily aware of the ticking quavers, making me feel as if Father Time is breathing down my neck. What a relief to turn to Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr, whose flexible phrasing suggests an atmosphere of relaxed, convivial music-making. Manze and Egarr are also more responsive to Schubert’s dynamic markings. Perhaps they’re a little too free with their rubato at the beginning of D385’s finale, but at least they play it quietly, as indicated. Carrettín and Gajic´ are most impressive in the Menuettos of D385 and D408, both of which swing with ease, and they bring appealing delicacy to the Trio section of the former. Their supple, tender reading of D408’s Andante is another high point, and I only wish they’d shown as much vulnerability elsewhere.

The recording was made in a small auditorium nestled in a nature preserve in Boulder, Colorado, and the intimate acoustic created by Sono Luminus’s engineers seems entirely apt for music that’s intended for domestic performance (Manze and Egarr, by contrast, seem to be playing in a cavernous concert hall). Carrettín uses a period bow but plays a post-war instrument by Franz Kinberg designed specifically for early 19th-century repertory. His sound is finely shaded but can become gratingly whiny above the stave. Gajic´ plays an 1835 Érard that’s notable as much for its evenness of tone as for its transparency. If you insist on period instruments for these works, I’d stick with Manze and Egarr; otherwise, Ibragimova and Tiberghien are the cream of the crop.