Sonatas For Fortepiano And Violin

The tones of Bezuidenhout's fortepiano and Mullens' baroque violin combine perfectly and their interpretive interplay is exceptional. One is reminded why Mozart's music is so beloved and inspired by the performers' mastery of it.

Susanna Ogata, violin, and Ian Watson, fortepiano, join forces to record the complete Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin of Ludwig van Beethoven in four instalments. The second CD in the series features Beethoven's tenth Sonata, Op. 96 in G major, as well as the exquisite ‘Spring’ Sonata, his fifth, Op. 24 in F major. Using period instruments for which the music was originally written, Watson and Ogata reveal not only the clarity of Beethoven’s extraordinary musical structure, but also the beauty and lyricism of these two particular sonatas. Ian Watson has been described by The Times as a keyboard performer with ‘virtuosic panache and brilliantly articulated playing’ and ‘a world-class soloist.’ He was appointed Resident Conductor of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in September 2014.

Here are two musicians at the top of their game playing, on period instruments, with a rare combination of communication and personality. They are each superb soloists, but together they achieve something very special. These are not works for violin with piano, but the other way around—yet, played like this, they amount to a meeting of equals. Faust has already recorded Mozart’s concertos to huge acclaim, and she plays these three equally rich sonatas with the same imagination and fantasy—and Melnikov meets her head-on with comparable flair.