This music certainly benefits from being heard on original instruments. The sound of the Christopher Clarke copy of a 1795 Walter fortepiano played by Yoshiko Kojima allows the explosive verve of Beethoven's youthful invention to come over very powerfully. Yet because the instrument has limited resonance, the cello emerges clearly even when it's right in the middle of the texture, and this enables Hidemi Suzuki to play throughout in a natural, unforced way, shaping phrases with the bow and making only very selective use of vibrato. It's a good idea, too, to put all Beethoven's earlier cello and piano music on a single disc, even though it means omitting an important long repeat in the G minor Sonata.
The performances are excellent whenever the music demands passion, forcefulness and drama, so the first movements of both sonatas fare well, Op 5 No 2 having a sustained intensity that many interpreters miss. But I did sometimes wish for a gentler kind of expression or a lighter, wittier manner (Op 5 No 2's finale).
Initially, I wondered whether the slightly overbearing impression had something to do with the vivid, punchy recorded sound, but the occasional moments of really beautiful soft playing - like Var 7 of Op 66 - sound as delicate as one could wish. But if these performances don't quite bring out the full range of Beethoven's cello and piano writing in the way Watkin and Moody do (their disc couples Op 5 No 2 with the Op 69 and Op 102 No 2 sonatas) it's still a welcome addition to the original-instrument Beethoven discography, and well worth sampling.'