An enterprising programme makes this stand out from the crowd
The Strad Issue: September 2025
Description: An enterprising programme makes this stand out from the crowd
Musicians: Nancy Dahn (violin) Timothy Steeves (piano)
Works: Franck: Violin Sonata in A major. Maier: Violin Sonata in B minor. Schumann: Violin Sonata no.1 in A minor
Catalogue number: DELPHIAN DCD34316
In Franck’s Violin Sonata, Nancy Dahn and Timothy Steeves lead from a musing, dreamy opening into colourful drama. The violin is to the fore in the recorded balance of the second-movement Allegro, emotionally impulsive, played with gusto and rhythmic freedom. It is a powerful, heart-on-sleeve performance. In the Recitativo-Fantasia Dahn plays with a sense of constant improvisatory urgency, balanced by intimate vulnerability. In the finale Franck calls for cantabile, and these players respond with lyrical generosity.
The album opens with Schumann’s First Violin Sonata. The duo resists overdoing the composer’s dramatic sforzandos in the fervent first movement – and ignores his repeat marking. The following Allegretto dances and sparkles, and the final movement, Lebhaft, is crisp and neatly articulated.
After Schumann comes Amanda Maier’s B minor Violin Sonata of 1874–5. The first-movement Allegro soon launches into choppy Romantic waters, with a surging 6/8 opening melody closely followed by contrasting quaver passages, one tranquillo and the other in clipped animato, all played in fine style, with colour and finesse. The Andantino has a rocking 3/8 melody, almost a lullaby, with a gracefully performed, dancing Allegretto at its centre; and the final Allegro molto vivace is full of high spirits, well caught by Dahn and Steeves, with a jubilant finish. The recording is bright and well balanced.
TIM HOMFRAY
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