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British Violin Sonatas / Howick, Callaghan
SOMM Recordings

British Violin Sonatas / Howick, Callaghan

$20.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Howick, Callaghan
Format
CD
Discs
1
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Mar 20, 2020
Catalog #
SOMMCD 0610
UPC
748871061026

About

SOMM Recordings pays tribute to the remarkable flourishing of British Violin Sonatas in the 20th century with a collection of music for violin and piano by six key figures of the modern chamber music renaissance in Britain. Making her debut on SOMM, violinist Clare Howick’s championing of this repertoire prompted iClassical to declare “the record-buying public owe [her] a debt of gratitude”. She is accompanied by pianist Simon Callaghan. From the middle of the century, and commissioned for Yehudi Menuhin, William Walton’s Violin Sonata is unique in the composer’s oeuvre with its almost constant sense of nervous uncertainty. Composed the same year (1948), Kenneth Leighton’s youthful First Violin Sonata is the product, as Robert Matthew-Walker comments in his authoritative booklet notes, of “a deep-thinking musician of whom everything he was to write, from his earliest compositions onwards, is genuinely felt and unaffectedly original”. William Alwyn’s beautifully proportioned Sonatina (1933) receives only its second appearance on album here. Composed the following year, Alan Rawsthorne’s Pierrette: Valse Caprice is best remembered from its quotation in the composer’s soundtrack for the 1947 film Uncle Silas. The contrasted Elegy and Toccata from Lennox Berkeley’s 1951 Op.33 reveal a master craftsman in miniature, while three pieces by Gordon Jacob – Little Dancer (1959), Caprice (1969) and Elegy (1972) – all make their first appearances on album here. Somm gratefully acknowledges the support of the William Alwyn Foundation, the Lennox Berkeley Society, the Delius Trust, the Rawsthorne Trust and the RVW Trust in making this recording.

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 I. Allegro tranquillo 12:38
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro tranquillo
    Duration
    12:38
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  2. 2 II. Variazioni 14:18
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Variazioni
    Duration
    14:18
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  3. 3 I. Allegro e grazioso 03:49
    Track
    3
    Title
    I. Allegro e grazioso
    Duration
    03:49
    Composer
    William Alwyn
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  4. 4 II. Adagio 03:36
    Track
    4
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    03:36
    Composer
    William Alwyn
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  5. 5 III. Vivace 03:13
    Track
    5
    Title
    III. Vivace
    Duration
    03:13
    Composer
    William Alwyn
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  6. 6 Elegy for Violin and Piano 03:05
    Track
    6
    Title
    Elegy for Violin and Piano
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Gordon Jacob
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  7. 7 Caprice 02:25
    Track
    7
    Title
    Caprice
    Duration
    02:25
    Composer
    Gordon Jacob
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  8. 8 Little Dancer 02:13
    Track
    8
    Title
    Little Dancer
    Duration
    02:13
    Composer
    Gordon Jacob
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  9. 9 I. Allegro molto appassionato 04:56
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. Allegro molto appassionato
    Duration
    04:56
    Composer
    Kenneth Leighton
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  10. 10 II. Lento e liberamente 06:33
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Lento e liberamente
    Duration
    06:33
    Composer
    Kenneth Leighton
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  11. 11 III. Presto energico 06:21
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. Presto energico
    Duration
    06:21
    Composer
    Kenneth Leighton
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  12. 12 Pierrette: Valse caprice 03:27
    Track
    12
    Title
    Pierrette: Valse caprice
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Alan Rawsthorne
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  13. 13 Elegy in A Major, Op. 33, No. 2 03:28
    Track
    13
    Title
    Elegy in A Major, Op. 33, No. 2
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Lennox Berkeley
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan
  14. 14 Toccata in E Minor, Op. 33, No. 3 01:52
    Track
    14
    Title
    Toccata in E Minor, Op. 33, No. 3
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Lennox Berkeley
    Performer
    Clare Howick, Simon Callaghan