‘It’s not always about making the most beautiful sound … some of the writing is quite violent …’ So observed Chloë Hanslip to Charlotte Gardner in a fascinating interview about the Beethoven violin sonatas (10/17) as recorded live with Danny Driver over three recitals at Southampton’s Turner Sims Hall. In the same interview Driver remarked on the ‘look-what-I-can-do’ aspects of Beethoven’s piano-writing. These and other aspects of the music are fully realised in performance by two ‘engaging and extremely accomplished artists’, as Richard Bratby aptly described them when reviewing the first volume of this Rubicon series (11/17).

RB found the performances leading, in general, towards understatement. At times, yes, I’d agree, but for me they’re also full of interpretative interest, eschewing as they do surface warmth for the sake of boldness, Hanslip sometimes moderating vibrato in pursuit of a cooler sound than we’re used to from her. Then again she’ll summon it back again for, to give a specific example, the sweet opening of the Spring Sonata. I love the duo’s ‘careful-as-you-tread’ approach to the Op 23 A minor Sonata’s Andante scherzoso, più allegretto, and in the Spring’s Adagio molto espressivo the ebb and flow of Hanslip’s playing, the way she glides upwards at the note’s centre, again varying vibrato as the music suggests, which proves that this 30-year-old has become a truly formidable musician. There are real ingredients at play here, and Driver’s contribution is powerful but never overwhelming.

I like the balance too, Hanslip’s sometimes gutsy attack never allowed to upstage the all-important piano part. The opening Allegro con brio of the stormy C minor Sonata, No 7, is a perfect case in point. The same sonata’s Adagio cantabile has a tremulous beauty about it that reminded me a little of Adolf Busch, and Hanslip’s ability to reduce her a tone to a mere whisper (try from 2'28" on track 9) is quite remarkable. The Scherzo isn’t too fast, allowing the effect of the music’s implied badinage to fully register, while the finale is also sensibly paced. I’d never before realised just how much the closing page or so anticipates the close of the Kreutzer Sonata. A fine disc, then, that encapsulates highly intelligent performances and which augurs well for the next volume in the series.