Pianist Kathryn Selby’s ever expanding universe of musical friends has a new member for her latest Song Without Words tour in Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Cello Catherine Hewgill, who joins her SSO colleague Associate Concertmaster Alexandra Osborne for what turns out to be a trio made in heaven.

The program gets its name from an ABC-commissioned 2020 work by Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse which pays tribute to the Mendelssohn siblings Felix and Fanny, an “unashamedly melodic and lyrical” three-part piece modelled on one each of their chamber works.

Songs without Words: Catherine Hewgill, Alexandra Osborne snd Kathryn Selby. Photo supplied

Starting with rippling arpeggios over a cello solo, Ornamental sets the scene for the early Romantic style to follow, what Cawrse describes as “Historically Informed Composition”. The central section, Lied, sounds as if it has come fresh from Leipzig, the strings combining beautifully under Selby’s sparkling piano, while there’s a contemplative and more modern feel – but not too modern! – to the final part, Swan Song.

The work, which has been recorded...