In the summer of 1804, while on a summer holiday in the village of Conventello near Ravenna, Rossini then aged twelve, composed his six ‘Sonate a quattro’ for two violins, cello and double-bass. Many years later, the composer wrote on the front of the manuscript: ‘First violin, second violin, violoncello and contrabass parts for six […]

The fearsomely, devilishly virtuosic Caprices of Paganini represent a technical and artistic Mount Everest for the violin. No. 24 has been popularly used as a basis of sets of variations by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski, Blacher and many others. Here, the Caprices are performed in the unusual arrangement for violin and piano, made by Schumann. They […]

As he explains in his liner notes for this CD, Lynn Harrell uses the voice as his point of departure for this collection of encores. They are largely reflective pieces with a bit of fun such as the unfairly forgotten Glazunov ‘Spanish Serenade’ thrown in for good measure. And this once popular disc now makes […]