Romantic Violin Sonatas by Schumann, Schubert, Grieg

The Carlock-Combet Duo return to SOMM RECORDINGS with a trio of ravishing Romantic Violin Sonatas by Schubert, Robert Schumann and Grieg. Formed in 2014, the Philadelphia-based Carlock-Combet Duo – Sandra Carlock and Guillaume Combet – has quickly established a reputation for “imaginative and intelligent programming performed with style, panache and polish” (MusicWeb International). The 20-year-old Schubert’s genial and outward-looking Violin Sonata in A major (D574) explores the expressive range of the violin to the full and is, says Robert Matthew-Walker in his informative booklet notes, “a masterpiece of the late Classical era worthy to stand with the finest examples of Beethoven”. The violinist Joseph Joachim considered Schumann’s Op.121 Violin Sonata in D minor to be “one of the finest compositions of our times in respect of its marvelous unity of feeling and thematic significance. It overflows with noble passion, almost harsh and bitter in expression, and the last movement reminds one of the sea with glorious waves of sound”. Grieg’s Third Violin Sonata in C minor (Op.45) was his last completed chamber work. Beginning and ending with passionately dramatic statements, it frames a central, nobly lyrical theme memorably shared by both instruments.