Leif Ove Andsnes here deals beautifully with the Sonata itself. Andsnes's performance is smooth and warmly expressive, with the final tarantella going at a galloping lick. Bostridge, too, is in fine form, evincing a tremulous vulnerability in Schubert's settings of three poems of Romantic alienation: his singing suggests a great surrounding stillness.

…Andsnes opens proceedings with a superlative account of the C minor Sonata… If there is a more exuberant recording of the final tarantella I have yet to hear it. I love the heroic tone Bostridge brings to Lebensmut ("Courage for Living") and Johanna Sebus ("The dam bursts, the fields roar...") in performances of wonderful freshness and spontaneity. Bravo.

This partnership is one of the most inspired of record-company matchmakings: the two musicians really do test and try each other at every turn, as well as being mutually supportive.