3 Review(s)

In his Sonata for solo violin, Nicholas Maw created a work of stature and substance, one that more than stands up against the other masterpieces of the genre. Despite the virtuosic rhetoric of its technical demands - ghostlike harmonics, contrapuntal lines punctuated with left-hand pizzicati, and darkly shaded tremolos this 29-minute work is first and foremost a vehicle for an expressive intimacy, richly inventive and many voiced. 'An epic achievement ... Maw's discriminating relationship with traditional material is one of the most intriguing and most rewarding aspects of his creativity.' The Times (Gerald Larner), 26 July 1999