Beethoven wrote 10 sonatas for pianoforte and violin. It seems perverse of Decca to market this set with just Kavakos’s photo on the cover, suggesting Enrico Pace – whose name appears in much smaller letters than Kavakos’s – to be an also-ran. True, Kavakos is the well-known name, but why not treat it as an opportunity to promote Pace, who certainly doesn’t play like a ‘mere accompanist’?

This is a notably well-played set, and Pace and Kavakos have considered deeply how to present Beethoven’s ideas in the clearest, most vivid way. Phrases are precisely articulated, the dynamic shapes and stress points brought into clear focus. The pair are prepared to allow time to make these expressive points, introducing, for instance, small gaps before Beethoven’s many sforzandos; and they’re ready to change the tempo within a movement in order to bring out a change in expressive character. Thus the first movement of Op 30 No 1 starts unusually slowly, to emphasise the smooth, calm contrapuntal lines, then speeds up as the music becomes livelier. Most of these adaptations are smoothly and expertly managed but the build-up of expressive hesitations does on occasion undermine the music’s momentum. The middle movement of Op 23, hovering between andante and allegretto, sounds far more fun in Ibragimova and Tiberghien’s live recording; by comparison, Kavakos and Pace seem somewhat stiff.

In the most lively or dramatic movements – the first allegros of Op 30 Nos 2 and 3, the finale of Op 12 No 3, the first movement of the Kreutzer Sonata – Kavakos and Pace are at their best, rivalling the finest recordings. There is a recurring sense, however, that the playing is slightly over-literal. For example, when Beethoven writes, as he so often does, a crescendo leading to a sudden piano, it may be more appropriate to shade into the softness at the last moment, rather than give the music a sudden jolt.

I find a lot to admire and enjoy in these performances, but of recent recordings I’m more inclined to recommend the imaginative, searching accounts by Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov or the delightfully spontaneous-sounding set by Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien.