I can imagine some listeners finding these interpretations of the Brahms violin sonatas a bit too subdued, although I find them all utterly captivating. Indeed, I love that Ning Feng and Zee Zee (also known as Zhang Zuo) create an intimate, homey atmosphere rather than seeming to play to the last row of a recital hall. This sense of intimacy is aided by their scrupulous attention to the composer’s dynamic markings. Indeed, thanks to their conscientiousness, I was delighted to realise that the majority of Op 100 is marked piano and pianissimo.

Technically, Feng’s playing is beyond reproach. His tone is simply ravishing, even when it soars into the stratosphere – try, say, in the coda of Op 78’s first movement (at 9'42") or near the end of Op 100’s Andante tranquillo (at 5'17") – and his double-stops are always immaculately in tune. He and Zee Zee sound exceptionally well matched, too, and not just in terms of singing tone, clarity of articulation and far-sighted phrasing but also because their playing is always heartfelt but never heart-on-the-sleeve.

Feng and Zee Zee’s tempo choices generally hit the sweet spot. Perhaps the finale of Op 108 could be pushed a little harder to generate more emotional heat, but that’s not their way. Listen, for example, to the syncopated passage starting at 2'18". In Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt’s hands (Ondine, 9/16), the result is hair-raisingly disorientating; Feng and Zee Zee play it more cleanly, saving the tumult for what follows. I do find Feng a little too reticent in the Scherzo from the ‘FAE’ Sonata – Tetzlaff plays it as a kind of danse macabre – but other than that, he had me hanging on his every note.

As usual from Channel Classics, the recorded sound is clear, warm and naturally balanced. I have a hunch that the label will have Feng record Brahms’s Violin Concerto at some point, and I’m curious to hear if his understated but intensely musical approach will work as well in that grander context as it does in these duos.