These players give well-considered performances whose strong expression and lack of affectation take us to the heart of the music. The 1991 recording gives a well-integrated sound - very natural, even to the extent that Kreger has to struggle a bit to be heard in the biggest fortissimos. In just one or two places the performances sound slightly heavy or inflexible - Kreger’s delivery of the impassioned recitative in Op. 58’s Adagio doesn’t have the freedom that Lynn Harrell brings to it, and in Op. 45’s middle movement Robbins’s playing of the quirky decoration at the repeat of the main theme can’t match Canino’s precision and grace. In the Song without words and elsewhere, however, I found Kreger’s comparatively objective approach to expression more affecting than Harrell’s intensely personal style.
The Decca recording gives more prominence to the cello line. This is mostly an advantage, but best of all for sound is Isserlis’s and Tan’s recording. The lighter tone of Tan’s 1839 piano ensures an unforced, natural balance. Their playing, too, has more grace and transparency, even if something of the music’s nobility and grandeur is lost. But Kreger and Robbins are in their own way just as captivating - a real bargain.'