Julia Huber: Dussek

The Strad Issue: October 2026

Description: A committed series shows a Czech composer’s flair

Musicians: Julia Huber (violin) Miriam Altmann (fortepiano)

Works: Dussek: Violin Sonatas vol.5: G major op.5 no.1, B flat major op.5.no.2, F major op.12 no.1, B flat major op.12 no.2

Catalogue number: BRILLIANT CLASSICS 96595

‘Dussek is an unjustly neglected composer’ is the baldly stated opinion of The New Grove. All the same, his works are gradually appearing on recordings, with several piano concertos and a truly impressive Mass appearing in recent years. Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann now reach the fifth volume of their survey of the composer’s violin sonatas with four works published in 1788 and 1790.

Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760–1812) was a touring virtuoso pianist, and while these four sonatas don’t display the technical innovations that would come to characterise his later keyboard music, they are distinctly sonatas with violin accompaniment. That said, the violinist enjoys many passages of solo prominence, taking the lead, for example, in the G minor central slow movement of op.5 no.1. The two op.5 works are in a fast–slow–fast format, while the op.12 pieces opt for something different: a tense slow introduction to a sonata–presto and closing rondo in no.1; an Allegro followed by variations on a well-known tune in no.2.

These players’ immersion in this repertoire guarantees the authority of the performances; the slightly biscuity tone of Huber’s violin (Mantuan school, 1680) contrasting well with Altmann’s well-regulated 1780 Stein reproduction. The music is predominantly melodic and lyrical – but it’s worth trying that sonata-presto for something rather more ambitious.

DAVID THREASHER