Beethoven did not give cellists a concerto, but he gave them a lot: five sonatas and three sets of variations. He also gave them a place in the Triple Concerto. A lot of people say this is subpar Beethoven, even bad Beethoven. I say it’s Beethoven, it’s great, be grateful.

The famous pianist András Schiff plays Beethoven’s cello-and-piano music, or piano-and-cello music, and he does so with a fellow Hungarian: Miklós Perényi. A few years ago, they recorded this music for ECM New Series. And they performed it for New Yorkers on Wednesday and Thursday nights at the 92nd St. Y.

They programmed this music intelligently, too. They didn’t go in chronological order, but rather arranged a nice, balanced bouquet for each night.

Wednesday night’s concert began with Beethoven’s Sonata in F, Op. 5, No. 1, and the sonata couldn’t have begun better: Messrs. Perényi and Schiff were in perfect unison. And I don’t use the word “perfect” lightly. They breathed together, thought together, listened to each other. Moreover, they would do this all evening long. Unity and rapport were never a problem, at all.

In the F-major sonata, Mr. Perényi played simply and wisely, and he displayed a tone both warm and lean. That is a marvelous combo: warm and lean. Also, he is a great respecter of note values, and a provider of the proper space between notes.

Even in early Beethoven, you want maturity, not callowness — and that is what both performers gave.

You could lodge some complaints against Mr. Schiff, and I will: He is not the smoothest pianist. In this sonata, and elsewhere, he often played in a clattering fashion. His passagework was stiff, and he did nothing close to singing. Worse, he committed harsh accents, accents so harsh and out of place, they sometimes made me wince.

Also, do you know how people say there’s nothing worse than fingernails on a blackboard? That may be true, but fingernails on a keyboard are pretty bad too (and unnecessary).

Nonetheless, Mr. Schiff is a musician, and he understands Beethoven, and he played the F-major sonata with musical authority.

The Sonata in C, Op. 102, No. 1, gives us a later Beethoven, but he is still the same man, only farther along on his journey. Mr. Perényi began this work with remarkable purity and evenness — a pure evenness. And, as he continued, he seemed to distill his lifetime of acquaintance with Beethoven, with the cello, and with art.

Mr. Schiff played in the fashion we have discussed — he was tight, tight. But this had a positive side, namely an intensity, a coiled feeling. Moreover, this sonata is noble, and Mr. Schiff (like his partner) treated it nobly. This cannot help ennobling you, as you sit in the audience.

After intermission, the duo played a set of variations. And what was the theme? Why, one of Papageno’s tunes, “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen,” from Mozart’s “Magic Flute.” Mr. Schiff was still tight and jabbing, but he had a look of contentment on his face, enjoying Beethoven’s variations, as we all did.

And Mr. Perényi was superb. He was sprightly and playful, yet elegant and even dignified. He did some beautiful singing — you might even say some Mozartean singing. And he exited a sustained note as a singer might — the note was not closed off, but gave the impression of continuing. Also, we heard again from Mr. Perényi that acute sense of rhythm.

Our performers ended this evening with one of Beethoven’s greatest sonatas, and one of the greatest sonatas ever written (for any instrument): the Sonata in A, Op. 69. I have always sort of linked it with Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata, probably because they’re in the same key.

Mr. Schiff, it will not surprise you to hear, was super-tight, especially in the Scherzo, and he can really knock a musical line out of shape: Hedid this in the Andante cantabile (and there weren’t no cantabile, believe me). But he is able to bring out the nobility, the greatness, of a work, as he certainly did here.

Mr. Perényi, I can hardly praise more, but let me offer one detail (and I have said something similar): In the final movement, Allegro vivace, he was both mirthful and refined at the same time. This is artistry. And look: Mr. Schiff may be more famous, but Mr. Perényi is by no stretch of the imagination inferior.

Despite the criticisms I have leveled, this was a great evening in a concert hall. An uplifting one. Regular readers may know that I am skeptical of one-composer evenings. And Messrs. Perényi and Schiff played two of them, in a row! But if you’re going to have one composer, you could do worse than to have Beethoven.