The Vienna Schubert Trio are masters of cohesion, phrase and dynamic, the members collectively skilled at dovetailing shared roles, while pianist Claus-Christian Schuster is equally comfortable leading discreetly from the background or assertively from the front. A prominent violin, however, skews the balance somewhat but the sound is acceptable. And the musicianship on offer offsets any technical defects.

Robert Schumann described the first movement of D898 as “a thing of grace, intimate and virginal”. His words may be disputable yet there is a vein of lyricism running through it which these artists affectionately express through a rhythmic give and take, a kind of rubato within the framework of a regular pulse that also reveals many another emotions inherent in the music. A similar freedom of approach, but for a dissimilar result, prevails in the Notturno, presumed to be the original slow movement of this Trio. Musicologist Alfred Einstein dismissed the piece as “a singularly empty Adagio with a few contrasts and modulations”. The Vienna Schubert Trio beg to disagree, instead finding singularly large reserves of ardour implicit in the writing.

Many a reserve of ardour tumbles out in this interpretation of D929 too. Here Schumann hit nails on the head when he thought its opening Allegro “eloquent of extreme anger and passionate longing” and the Andante con moto slow movement “a sigh, rising to spiritual anguish”. Schuster and his colleagues concur, seeing a work so far-flung in conception as requiring a response of matching stature. Schubert, perhaps feeling that he had gone too far in laying himself bare in the finale, removed its exposition repeat and cut 98 bars from the development section. Schiff & Co restore the original, as do Schuster & Co, and their graphic performance suggests Schubert did let himself go. Let’s be glad the evidence wasn’t destroyed.