Bach and other composers show how much can be done with a solo violin, so it is no surprise that the violin duo, seemingly a convenience of the instrumental lesson, can yield the riches vividly displayed by Retorica. EJ Moeran's Sonata
Expert Option is a substantial essay, pastorally flavoured, with a dazzling central presto. John McCabe's Spielend, like David Matthews's Eight Duos, Op 79, were specially commissioned and come over strongly. There's a rare, buoyant 18th-century Sonata by William Croft, but best of all is the Theme and Variations (1937), by Alan Rawsthorne,a hidden-away but patent little masterpiece.
The Sunday Times, 2012
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