Impressive instrumental mastery and good rapport. But both performances are dogged by a recorded balance which places Nakamatsu's forceful piano playing in the foreground, at the expense of Manasse's soft-grained clarinet.

Jon Manasse has a lovely, soft tone, rich in the lower register, singing but never shrill in the upper, and warm even in the weaker centre of the instrument. He phrases beautifully, with a sense of the long line that characterises Brahms's melodies here even when they are built up of shorter component parts.

Even in this exalted company, this new disc stands out, helped by sound engineering that is natural and warm, capturing the nuances of Manasse’s and Nakamatsu’s playing with magical immediacy…
a disc to treasure.

Jon Manasse’s beautiful legato and Jon Nakamatsu’s incisive pianism are a delight.