The theme of friendship runs through this recital – not only that between Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott, a partnership of many years standing, but also that of Gabriel Fauré, a composer whom Stott describes as her ‘musical mentor’. Fauré was taught by Saint-Saëns and in turn taught the Boulanger sisters, all of them represented in this recital, alongside his friend Pauline Viardot.

I find these musical conversations exhibit an exactness of dramatic effect and a way of making the cello and piano as visual as sound can ever be. Try the famous duet ‘Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix’ from the opera Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns, where in a clever bit of multitrack recording Ma plays both roles, the two parts blending like honeycomb, with Stott’s shimmering playing radiating the essence of perfume. In Pauline Viardot’s ‘Hai Luli!’, a ballad of unrequited love, Ma plays the forlorn absent narrator in a most moving manner, while in ‘Aimez-moi’, from Six Chansons of the 15th Century, both players lend an enchantment to the quasi-plainsong setting.

Lili Boulanger’s D’un soir triste, a harmonically adventurous piece verging on the austere, has Ma and Stott interweaving their roles as if caught up in a domestic drama, the extended pause at the climax offering a moment of respite. And who can resist Ma’s bluesy scoop on the words ‘Quand l’amour à pleure’ in Nadia’s Cantique? The Sicilenne from Pelléas et Mélisande and the Élégie, Op 24, like the early Berceuse, unfold in a most graceful fashion. In Lili’s Nocturne, the chiming bells, delicately coloured in by Stott, are given full measure at the climax, as befits the marking très vibrant.

Faure’s two Romances, Opp 28 and 69, and his Sérénade, Op 98, where the players deftly bring off the contrast of the cantabile opening with the hop, skip and jump of the following paragraph, are testament not only to their expressive music-making but also to their joy in sharing the art of a composer whose warm sociability was sometimes masked by his musical style.