In 2005 Anne Gastinel and Claire Désert recorded this Schubert programme and were rewarded with a RTL d’or and a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

The magic of this iconoclastic programme (Anne Gastinel transcribed the lieder herself) lies in assimilation rather than imitation. The cello absorbs sonata, sonatina and lieder as though they had all been written for it: in fact it is the cello that has saved the sonata for posterity now that the arpeggione is long forgotten.

Since winning the Rostropovich Competition in 1990, Anne Gastinel, has had scant regard for her “classical” image. Through her close rapport with pianist Claire Désert she has recreated a repertory of songs by a composer that she loves, without the absence of words taking anything away from the capacity to move. “Delicate, fine, natural. Never overstated, never the slightest trace of sentimentality, yet constantly singing, [this performance] is, warm and noble”, wrote Le Nouvel Observateur.