Summing up much of what came before and predicting some of what was to come, Schubert’s three sonatinas for violin and piano never claim the medium in ways Beethoven did since they have little serious thematic development. At their best, one movement feels like a song without words, another like a piano sonata with violin obbligato. Their lack of weight, though, is less troublesome in light of Isabelle Faust’s recent Harmonia Mundi recording of Weber’s Violin Sonatas, Op 10, written only a few years before: Schubert feels pretty substantial in comparison, even if he seemed to be holding himself back to accommodate the amateur musician market in these works. The best performances – such as the Gidon Kremer/Oleg Maisenberg recording on DG – somehow convey Schubert’s burgeoning musical personality behind the simplicity of manner.

In this new set, violinist Sara Trickey writes in the notes of having had the sonatinas under her skin for years, which makes one wonder why she sticks to a relatively undifferentiated tone and manner of phrasing for one movement after another. Perhaps she’s following the historically informed lead of Jaap Schroder’s 1980 L’Oiseau-Lyre recording? Not a bad model, since modern concert-hall-style projection makes the music seem even more modest.

But correctness and good musical sense aren’t the same thing, especially since this disc’s filler, the Rondo for violin and strings, has much of the spirit Trickey lacks in the rest of the disc. The primary attraction is pianist Daniel Tong, an extraordinarily sympathetic Schubertian with his crystalline sonority and wonderful tiny rubatos that release avenues of expression even in the simpler moments. No surprise that his all-Schubert disc on the Quartz label contains equally notable playing.