Why should a piece of music only breathe in its original instrumentation? This is the theme underpinning violinist Anna McMichael and pianist Daniel de Borah’s new release In Other Words. It’s an album entirely of transcriptions. Its beauty lies not only in the remarkable works themselves – from the lightness of Stravinsky’s opening Pergolesi fragments, to Liszt’s lingering Romance Oubliée – but in the stories it shares. Throughout are scattered intimate tales of these works, deepening our understandings of the composers’ tastes and choices.

Well-paced statements from McMichael encourage us to reflect on each line. It’s not an album that has a sense of rush; the duo is in no musical hurry to showcase virtuosic ego. Each phrase becomes one to relish in composition, transcription, and presentation alike. A favourite is Brahms’ E Flat Sonata, to which we hear de Borah’s...