An unbearable lightness of being. Gary Hoffman, one of the music world’s best-kept secrets, is a fine and uncompromising client. This is a disc to delight Brahmsians. The two contrasting, complementary sonatas here receive vital, deeply musical performances. With Gary Hoffman and pianist Claire Désert, both works surge and sing!

Brahms’s Sonatas for piano and cello, op.38 and op.99, top chamber pieces, full of multifaceted humanity, require from their interpreters as much complementarity as osmosis. We are immediately captivated by Gary Hoffman’s beautiful Amati cello – once played by Leonard Rose – and pianist Claire Desert’s charming touch.

They impose a well-matured balance. Sweetness and passion, melancholy and frenzy, meditation and exaltation which all mix together thanks to spontaneous eloquent inflections. The dialogue’s fantastic aspect between cello and piano gains more and more depth and lyricism throughout the programme.