Mozart duos for fortepiano and violin

Abstract

In order to clear space to discuss some wider issues raised by this selection of recent(ish) recordings of Mozart’s sonatas for fortepiano and violin, let me begin by saying at the start that it is my firm belief that you would happily make room for any, or even all, of them in your CD cabinets. Catherine Mackintosh and Geoffrey Govier have completed a very fine five-volume series of all of Mozart’s duo sonatas for this combination, celebrating not only Mozart’s visionary embarkation (for its time) upon a corpus of works in which the violin is a more-than-equal partner to the keyboard, but also a glorious culmination of their excellent present-day musical partnership as Duo Amadè. Mozart: Duo sonatas, vol.1 (Chandos chan0755, rec 2007, 66′), Mozart: Duo sonatas, vol.2 (Chandos chan0764, rec 2008, 71′), Mozart: Duo sonatas, vol.3 (Chandos chan0772, rec 2009, 63′), Mozart: Duo sonatas, vol.4 (Chandos...