Data Poster

The duo of violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster have often recorded eclectic fare, but here, in a more or less conventional program of late Romantic French fare, they excel with deeply affecting playing. The album made classical best-seller lists in early 2024, and one reason was certainly the presence of the little-known Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112, of Mel Bonis. This female composer, whose life is richly deserving of feature film treatment, was recognized in her own time (as the high opus number suggests) but was later forgotten, and even the recent rediscovery of music by women has only slowly revealed her talent.

The duo of violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster have often recorded eclectic fare, but here, in a more or less conventional program of late Romantic French fare, they excel with deeply affecting playing. The album made classical best-seller lists in early 2024, and one reason was certainly the presence of the little-known Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112, of Mel Bonis. This female composer, whose life is richly deserving of feature film treatment, was recognized in her own time (as the high opus number suggests) but was later forgotten, and even the recent rediscovery of music by women has only slowly revealed her talent.

Jennifer Pike, who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition at the tender age of 12, appears to have survived the perils of prodigyhood and entered her early twenties with musical intelligence intact. Here she offers a terrific program of music from the middle of the 19th century; all of it is abstract, but it brings vividly to mind the crucial trio of creative figures who met in the early 1850s: the ailing Robert Schumann, his musically frustrated wife Clara, and the young Johannes Brahms, mooning over the latter.