Violin Sonata No.6 in A, Op.30/1
Violin Sonata No.9 in A, Op.47 ‘Kreutzer’

The duo of old friends James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong has established itself as one of the most exciting of our times. Their albums of violin sonatas by Franck & Strauss, and Debussy, Elgar & Respighi have been praised by critics worldwide. For their new album, they turn to Beethoven, and two A major sonatas with very different moods. The 9th ‘Kreutzer’ is a huge work, heroic and turbulent in character – a kind of concerto for violin and piano. It is middle period Beethoven at its most dramatic. In contrast, the 6th sonata is a serene, introspective work of great beauty which has tended to be overlooked by its more outward looking siblings. The intimacy of this sonata – especially the slow movement is all the more surprising when the original finale was removed by the composer and became the finale of the ‘Kreutzer’. Beethoven wrote the gentle variations to conclude the 6th sonata.