On this inventively programmed, deeply personal album, Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and her duo partner Joseph Havlat interleave three major Schubert works for violin and piano with instrumental versions of his songs, in juxtapositions which bring out both connections and contrasts between them. The genial Sonata in A major sits alongside the dark, dejected yet lyrical ‘Du liebst mich nicht’ (in which Saluste-Bridoux tunes her violin’s lowest string down to D sharp to bring out a raspy, viola-like quality). ‘Sei mir gegrüsst’ is revealed as the melodic source for the late Fantasy in C major, whose ‘Hungarian’ stylistic features are also found in the Rondo in B minor. Deliberately avoiding an earnest approach focused on these works’ proximity to the composer’s early death, Saluste-Bridoux and Havlat have ‘walked away from doom and gloom and tried to bring out Schubert’s silliness and, at times, unnerving simplicity’.

Saluste-Bridoux is grand prizewinner of the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) 2021 International Auditions and a Classic FM 2022 ‘Rising Star’, and the album continues Delphian’s much admired series of recordings released in collaboration with YCAT, to showcasing nine leading young artists.