Sol Gabetta has always had a singular ability to make the cello sing in an oddly delicate and feminine way – a truly satisfying and exciting contrast for a musician who has often entertained a reputation for being somewhat of a musical imp. Combined with Hélène Grimaud’s image as the beautiful punk rocker of classical music, this disc has the potential to be something really unique.

There is a lightness to all the performances that creates an engagingly lyrical sound that is pleasurable to listen to. This works particularly well, for instance, in the Debussy Sonata, the drive of which unfolds between them as if the music is properly in their blood, but loses much of its effect in the Shostakovich, which simply doesn’t work as the graphic depiction of menace and cold that it should be without some unselfconscious ugliness in the performance. The middle line is most effectively trodden in the Schumann Fantasy Pieces and the Brahms Sonata. Here, the delicacy of the playing is put to greatest use – the elegance of the Bachian fugues in the outer movements of the Brahms brings out the clarity of the lines and, as a result, the composer’s own skill as a technician.

But, as most clearly illustrated by the Shostakovich, luminosity is not always necessarily what is needed. That this disc falls down a little by way of its great delicacy and slight tentativeness (perhaps symptomatic of this being the first duo recording for both) would not be in any way a criticism to most musical collaborations. That it is to Grimaud and Gabetta is simply testament to their potential as a truly incendiary collaboration. This disc is more than enjoyable but what is truly exciting is what they may do next.