An excellent selection of Fauré’s chamber music‚ early‚ middle period and late. I stress the word ‘chamber’ because violin sonatas and piano duets are often played by soloists but both the Dolly Suite and the A major Violin Sonata are here given chamber­scaled‚ intimate readings. Not that Marcia Crayford and Ian Brown cannot open out for the more eloquent pages of the Sonata’s slow movement‚ but the nimbleness of the Scherzo is accentuated by their quietness at its outset‚ and Brown draws from his piano a sound that admirably responds to Crayford’s slightly astringent tone; both are very well suited to this music. I would have liked just a little more variety of dynamic in Dolly‚ but the performance has great charm and sparkle‚ neither pianist forgetting that all six movements were written for the birthdays of a child. And the Piano Quintet is given a chamber performance too‚ of course. It is interesting to compare the Nash’s account of it with the recording by Domus (Hyperion‚ 7/95)‚ whose pianist‚ Susan Tomes‚ the Nash have ‘borrowed’ for this coupling. Without ever distending the piece Domus’s account is rather bigger‚ with more variety of dynamic and colour. There is‚ as a consequence‚ more bite to their account of the scherzo‚ but the Nash give it impetus and brilliance. There is a touch more drive to the Nash’s first movement‚ although their actual tempo is slightly slower than Domus’s. Both groups excel at perhaps the work’s most sublime moment‚ the hushed entry of the slow movement’s second theme. But the two performances are alternatives‚ not rivals. Choose whichever coupling you prefer (Domus offer Fauré’s other Piano Quintet‚ the D minor Op 89); you are not likely to be disappointed.