It goes without saying that Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang and German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser are outstanding soloists – but how good to hear them sharing the limelight in repertoire as intimate, colourful and varied as this.

Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata is something of a curio but the quality of the music and its popularity among cellists and pianists especially have earned it a permanent place in the repertoire. However, the guitar-like nature of the bowed arpeggione means that the latter’s part falls more neatly beneath the guitarist’s fingers than the cellist’s. There have been many such arrangements, one notable example being a version for string orchestra and guitar, memorably recorded by John Williams and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (Sony, 6/99). Here, Moser takes the lead with ‘Fei’ taking the piano’s part. But her tasteful arrangement reintroduces, as she writes in the booklet note, an ‘element of intimate drama’. Which perfectly sums up this subtle yet characterful account, evoking the Schubert of Die schöne Müllerin.

Jaume Torrent’s arrangements of Manuel de Falla’s well-known suite of popular Spanish songs are equally compelling. Listen, too, to the fiery, impassioned playing in ‘El paño moruno’ contrasted with the delicate limpidity of the following ‘Nana’.

And if the Dowland material draws the listener in with sounds that conjure up the ghosts of lute, viol and voice – In darkness let me dwell is extraordinary in its plangency – Fei’s masterly arrangement of the pipa part in Bright Sheng’s Three Songs matches the cello’s own extended techniques, contributing to a lively end to a highly enjoyable release.