As I noted when reviewing violinist Arabella Steinbacher’s tribute to him earlier this year (Pentatone, 1/19), the output of Richard Strauss doesn’t readily lend itself to instrument-focused programmes – at least not if you’re a string player. This release from Daniel Müller-Schott proves a case in point, offering a not entirely satisfactory combination of the 19-year-old composer’s strenuous Cello Sonata and Don Quixote, a masterpiece composed 14 years later. A couple of song arrangements complete the programme.

The album’s sense of being in two parts is underlined by the fact that the works with piano were recorded earlier this year in Cologne; the tone poem was recorded live in Melbourne in mid-2017 and has already appeared as part of ABC Classics’ ongoing Strauss cycle with the MSO under Andrew Davis.

There’s little to fault in Müller-Schott’s playing, though. He sings out the two songs gorgeously, and the performance of the sonata is technically superb – full of focus and conviction and, in the moments that require it, lyricism. He receives sturdy support at the piano from Herbert Schuch. But those virtues can do little to hide the fact that it’s not an easy work to warm to, striving hard towards those heroic effects that Don Quixote so beautifully undercuts and satirises.

The tone poem is the main event, then, while simultaneously pushing the cellist a little way back from the spotlight. He blends into a nicely balanced sound picture, a communicative and likeable presence alongside MSO principal viola player Thomas Moore, who makes a wonderfully witty Sancho Panza. Davis proves himself again to be an instinctive Straussian – his pacing is impeccable and he draws vivid playing from his orchestra. There’s plenty of humour and an impressive sense of sweep, not least in the grandly lyrical third variation. He and Müller-Schott don’t quite capture the pathos of the greatest accounts in the final minutes (listen to Fournier or Piatigorsky for that), but this is nevertheless a highly enjoyable account.