Nikolai Roslavets Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 4 & 6 (solomia Soroka)

With this third album, which includes Sonata No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23, the famous Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”), and Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard- Hamelin complete their recording of the entire cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770–1827) sonatas for violin and piano. Sonata No. 4 was composed in parallel with Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 (“Spring”) in the latter half of 1800. Sonata No. 4 stands apart from both its opus 12 predecessors and Sonata No. 5 with its spartan piano part, which, more often than not, has only a single voice playing in each hand; the resulting texture is much akin to a string trio. After the rhythmic energy of the opening “Presto,” the middle section, marked “Andante scherzoso più allegretto,” serves as a light interlude between two serious movements. The concluding rondo features a number of highly contrasting sections, one of which foreshadows that of Sonata No. 9 (“Kreutzer”).

Following the success of her discs of Romantic and Late Romantic repertoire, Vilde Frang has recorded Mozart’s Concertos Nos. 1 and 5 ‘Turkish’ and the Sinfonia Concertante K364, enabling music lovers to hear the Norwegian violinist perform Classical repertoire on disc for the first time. The impetus for this album was a 2012 orchestral tour of Asia conducted by Jonathan Cohen in which Vilde performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. The vibrancy of their musical collaboration was something both artists were keen to repeat and commit to disc. Jonathan’s Cohen’s chamber orchestra, Arcangelo, proved the ideal partner, joined by violist Maxim Rysanov in the Sinfonia Concertante.

In the early 19th century and earlier, the instrumental sonata for ensemble that included piano was usually called "piano sonata with instrumental accompaniment". Beethoven's first violin sonatas, for instance, were published as "sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment." While most sonatas with cello from the 18th century were written for continuo, with the left hand of the keyboard part often doubling the cello, Beethoven is credited for composing some of the first works in the genre that featured a written-out piano part.

Previous instalments of the Beethoven sonata cycle from Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen have met with wide acclaim. Described as ‘conversations by a perfect instrumental pairing’ in BBC Music Magazine, the discs have received a Choc in Classica and the recommendation of German website klassik.com, respectively. This the third and final volume brings together Beethoven's last three works in the genre, composed between 1801 and 1812. The centre-piece is the ninth sonata, the famed ‘Kreutzer Sonata’. The title page of the first edition described the sonata as ‘written in a highly concertante style’ and it does indeed surpass everything that had previously been written in the genre, in terms of scale as well as technical and compositional complexity.