Elgar, Walton & Adès

Elgar: Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82; Chanson de Nuit; Chanson de Matin; Adès: Suite from The Tempest; Walton: Violin Sonata.

Michael Foyle (violin), Iain Burnside (piano) –

Delphian DCD34363
https://www.delphianrecords.com/

There are many recordings of Elgar's Violin Sonata, but coming to it fresh after some time away, I heard things anew in this wonderfully authoritative account.

Opening this excellently recorded Delphian disc, the sonata is played with a beautiful sensitivity, its lines phrased with real understanding – nowhere more so than in the Romance slow movement, with its rippling piano accompaniment. Every movement is delivered with delectable expression, Burnside's accompaniment judiciously weighed against Foyle's tone, and the emotional core of the piece is never in doubt. Far from a wistful late farewell, this is playing full of nervous energy, with the war years and private sorrow never far beneath the surface. The intimacy is palpable.

The five movements of Adès's Suite from The Tempest showcase the composer's craft from the very first notes of Caliban's "The Island's mine", where Burnside's piano picks up something of the work's orchestral colour, its solid textures setting up real contrast with the violin. The spikiness conjures the character superbly, giving way to a Miranda that is quite captivating – piano and violin lines coming together, pizzicato working effectively against the keyboard, the music's slowness building a beautiful intensity through to a delightful close. The harmonics are intensely expressive, the layering handled with real delicacy. It is a score built on theatrical flair, the violin writing stretching from Caliban's coarse, guttural utterances to Ariel's weightless, high-flying figuration, and both qualities are fully realised here.

Burnside's opening of Walton's Violin Sonata goes straight to the heart of the piece, phrasing and dynamics judged to perfection, while Foyle negotiates the score with wonderful expression and technical brilliance. There are moments of real delicacy – fragments that appear and vanish, leaving the listener with something exquisite. The duo find the right momentum in the Allegretto con moto, and the close is gorgeous, their dialogue superbly weighted; the short coda rounds off a terrific reading of a work that sets blazing technical demands against passages of real tenderness. It is wonderfully controlled throughout, the duo never letting the piece stray off course.

The disc closes with two bon-bons, Elgar's Chansons de Nuit and de Matin, offering a gentle, glowing calm after all that has gone before and impeccably played, with glorious interpretation to match.

A stunning account of all three works.