Even by today's high standards this is an outstanding disc, recorded perfectly by Andrew Keener and Mike Hatch. It begins with Ravel's Sonata, of which the first movement is played with a crisp coolness – I nearly wrote plainness – that may be off-putting to ears expecting cajolery but rightly emphasizes the titillating acidity of the world-weary 1920s idiom. Indeed the playing has great subtlety and I have nothing but praise for Tasmin Little's acutely judged sonority as well as the actual beauty of her tone. Piers Lane is no less admirable: listen, for example, how he shapes and textures the elegantly edgy phrases of the (finally) flagellatory central Blues – of which I have never heard the detumescent ending done more movingly.
The duo bring the same insight, unselfishness and sheer affection to the very different worlds of Poulenc and Debussy. Time and again one notes details that come up freshly minted, and indeed I have upwardly reassessed Poulenc's Sonata on hearing this performance, which goes beyond consistent skill to offer enormous energy and feeling. Debussy's wonderful but fragile late Sonata again comes alive in a quite extraordinary way. Nothing is routine, and yet nothing is out of place. I much enjoyed Dumay and Pires in this piece, and indeed in Ravel's Tzigane also, when reviewing their recent DG disc, but Little and Lane have all their virtues of sensitivity and virtuosity plus an extra flair and intensity which puts them in a class of their own. Collectors seeking this repertory should not miss this remarkably fine mid-price disc. '