In these twentieth-century sonatas, from the late Romantic and expressionistic Valen, through Stravinsky’s neoclassical period, to Lutoslawski’s more modernistic style, the three composers are searching...

In these twentieth-century sonatas, from the late Romantic and expressionistic Valen, through Stravinsky’s neoclassical period, to Lutoslawski’s more modernistic style, the three composers are searching for inspiration in the past- Valen in the rigours of Bach’s counterpoint, Stravinsky in antique verse forms such as we find in Virgil, and Lutoslawski in Baroque music. These interactions with artistic models from earlier times result in three highly individual compositions, each appealing both to the heart and to the mind. The tentative beginnings of the duo partnership of Bard Monsen and Gunnar Flagstad took place in the autumn of 1999, when they met at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo- Gunnar as the newly-appointed accompanist for string players at the institute, and Bard studying the violin with Alf Richard Kraggerud and Stephan Barratt-Due. Bard later moved to the US to study with the legendary violin pedagogue Mauricio Fuks, but he continued to meet up with Gunnar at different musical events. It was a particularly successful concert at a festival in 2014, where they played Lutoslawski’s Partita, that served as the catalyst for a more regular musical partnership. This led to a thorough perusal of the 20th century duet repertoire, and the present recording in which three iconic works from a profoundly fascinating period in music history interact with each other is the fruition of this perusal.