After a career of three decades, the star violinist Tasmin Little may have had her farewell concert season thwarted – at least for now. Yet this final volume of British violin sonatas, with the pianist Piers Lane, offers abundant compensation. Little’s repertoire has always been extensive and inquisitive, her dedication to less familiar British repertoire a cornerstone of her career. Having featured works by Britten, Walton and Vaughan Williams, among others, on Volumes 1 and 2, she and Lane now include the world premiere recording of The Hart’s Grace by James Francis Brown (b1969), a work of dreamy intensity written for, and first performed by Little, in 2016.
William Alwyn’s early Sonatina (1933), disowned by the composer but luckily not destroyed, and Eric Coates’s delicious miniature, First Meeting, offer airy contrast to two weighty compositions: John Ireland’s stormy, impetuous Sonata No 2 with its poetic slow movement, premiered during the first world war; and York Bowen’s Sonata, Op 112, soaring and febrile, dating from the end of the second world war. Both suit Little’s openly expressive, romantic sound and fluid virtuosity: a generous player, she’s sure to find fresh outlets for her musical insights away from the concert platform. Let’s be glad she’s put this repertoire firmly back on the map.
