Schumann: Violin Sonatas

Carolin Widmann (violin), Dénes Várjon (piano) ECM New Series 476 6744 *****:The first of Schumann's three violin sonatas gets the lion's share of attention while the third hardly gets any at all. That's probably because it began life as joint composition between Schumann (who wrote two movements), Brahms and a young colleague, Albert Dietrich.

The three composers had joined forces to create a present for the great violinist Joseph Joachim. Schumann later wrote substitutes for the other composer's work to create a piece all of his own. If the sonata were often lavished with the ardour and imagination that Carolin Widmann and Dénes Várjon here devote to it, it would probably be heard much more often. The duo's playing of all three works is at once impassioned and controlled, ballsy and balanced. www.ecmrecords. com