Although Beethoven designated these works as 'for piano and violin', following Mozart's example, it's unlikely that he thought of the piano as leading the proceedings, or the violin either, for that matter: both instruments are equal partners, and in that sense this is true chamber music. Perlman and Ashkenazy are artists of the first rank and there's much pleasure to be derived from their set. Such an imaginative musician as Ashkenazy brings great subtlety to these works composed by a supreme pianistcomposer.
And the better the pianist is in this music, the better does the violinist play. Discernment is matched by spontaneity and the whole series is remarkably fine, while their celebrated performance of the Kreutzer Sonata has quite superb eloquence and vitality.
The recording boasts unusually truthful violin sound capturing all the colour of Perlman's playing.