We are delighted to announce that our latest CD for Nimbus is out now! Recorded last January at the Banff Centre in Canada, it features?three major works for Violin & Piano, written within a few months of each other in 1886/7, along with a rarely performed miniature by Franck:
- Franck?Andantino quietoso & Violin Sonata
- Dvo??k?Four Romantic Pieces, Op.75
- Grieg?Violin Sonata No.3 in C minor, Op.45
The Andantino quietoso from 1843 was completed shortly after the four Piano Trios (Op.1-2), and just as Franck began work on his ill-fated oratorio, ?Ruth?. It is rarely heard in modern concert halls, having been completely?over-shadowed by his much more famous violin sonta of 1886 which follows here. Although simplistic in its formal and harmonic structure, the piece is remarkable for its breathtaking melodies and almost painfully tender mood.?Franck?s Violin Sonata has become one of the most familiar and well-loved of the genre. It was written in the summer of 1886 as a wedding present for his violinist friend, Ysay?.
At the time of their composition in January 1887, Dvo??k wrote to his publisher about the Four Romantic Pieces, ?I am writing little miniatures ? just imagine ? for two violins and viola, and I enjoy the work as much as if I were writing a large symphony ? what do you say to that??.?Soon after completing the trio, Dvo??k rearranged the work into the setting you hear on this disc, giving it the title ?Romantick? kusy? (Romantic Pieces).
Concurrently, Grieg was working on a major new work for piano and violin in the summer and autumn of 1886, at his house in Bergen, Norway. Unlike his two earlier sonatas, which were written in a matter of weeks (some 20 years earlier), the C minor Sonata required several months of effort to complete, and it would take a further year of revisions before Grieg was happy to present it in public. Grieg wrote to his publisher on 25 July, ?I?m writing a piece of chamber music. Only the gods know when it will be finished?.?Much like Franck, this was a composer turning his attention to the piano and violin combination at the height of his powers, and the resultant work has been recognised as one of the great works for these forces. It was also to be the last chamber work, and indeed the last large-scale piece, that Grieg completed.