Two core works of the violin-piano repertoire share a programme with pieces by Mahler – one familiar, though not in this version, and another that is rarely performed. The Bulgarian violinist Chavdar Parashkevov and Russian pianist Natasha Kislenko are bold champions of all of the disc’s fare, whether performing as a duo or collaborating with others.

The scores most violinists and pianists play are Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 7 in C minor and Brahms’s Violin Sonata No 1 in G. Neither classic is a ‘violin’ sonata, relying as the music does on equal partnership. Parashkevov and Kislenko make sure their conversations are balanced, intense and seamless. The Beethoven benefits from the artists’ attention to contrasting dynamics and nuanced phrasing; the Brahms receives keen momentum, as well as space when lines need to breathe.

The Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is performed in an Otto Wittenbecher arrangement that also emphasises parity. While the piano takes care of the touching harp figures, both instruments share the unfolding of wistful melodic material, as if they were handing love letters back and forth.

Mahler was about 16 when he composed the first movement of an uncompleted quartet, but what he left is worth hearing for hints of the composer to come. The brooding Romantic sighs are redolent of Brahms and Schumann, with dramatic touches Mahler would develop to audacious effect. Viola player Rene Salazar and cellist Louis-Marie Fardet join Parashkevov and Kislenko in a richly detailed reading.