Album: Hélène Grimaud & Sol Gabetta, Duo (Deutsche Grammophon)

Cellist Sol Gabetta's playing, according to pianist Hélène Grimaud, is characterised by the “light and warmth and vitality” indicated by her first name, qualities not often associated with the instrument.

But the duo's playful work on Schumann's “Drei Fantasiestücke” bears out both Grimaud's assessment and the pair's shared sensibilities. Brahms' Sonata for Piano and Cello No.1 in E minor, though possessed of more gravitas, is more lightly dealt with than I've heard before, while they bring a questing spirit to Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Gabetta's robust pizzicato work in the second movement and Grimaud's animated runs in the closing section both evoking the early jazz influence of the late Romantics.

Download: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor; Drei Fantasiestücke