ELGAR, DELIUS & IRELAND: Violin Sonatas - Hoffmann, Newcombe

The three sonatas recorded here are linked not only by the date of their composition – the war years 1917-18 – but also because they are important in their composers’ respective oeuvres. Having left war-struck London, Elgar found refuge in his Sussex cottage to work on three of his most significant chamber works, including the Violin Sonata. Delius, blind and paralysed by the time he came to write his lyrical and rhapsodic Violin Sonata No. 3, dictated it to his amanuensis, Eric Fenby. Although Ireland wasstricken with frequent bouts of self-doubt while writing his Second Violin Sonata, the work is considered to be a milestone in English music of its epoch. A leading musicologist was to write that never had a chamber music work by an English composer made such a sensation.

EDWARD ELGAR
Sonata for Violin & Piano in E minor, Op. 82

FREDERICK DELIUS
Sonata No. 3 for Violin & Piano

JOHN IRELAND
Sonata No. 2 in A minor for Violin & Piano

Burkhard Hofmann, violin
Alan Newcombe, piano