British Violin Sonatas Vol 1

Here's a good quiz question. Which two Irish composers did the great Jascha Heifetz include in his recorded repertoire? The answers are Dublin-born Victor Herbert (A la valse) and Belfast-born Howard Ferguson, whose late-romantic, tightly argued Second Violin Sonata of 1946 opens Tasmin Little's useful new survey of British violin sonatas. There's actually only one other sonata on this disc: Willam Walton's more rhythmically intricate 1946 Sonata, at once lighter and spicier than the Ferguson. The Walton is counterparted by the composer's Two Pieces, one of which is a rejected movement from the sonata. And then there's Britten's early Suite, more in tune with the style of its time (the mid-1930s), and still appealing for its lack of inhibition. url.ie/f1f2