British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3 Tasmin Little & Piers Lane

• York Bowen (1884 - 1961): Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 112:
• 1 Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 112: I. Maestoso con fuoco - Allegro commodo 08:46
• 2 Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 112: II. Lento - Tempo poco lento 05:58
• 3 Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 112: III. Finale. Allegro con fuoco 05:27
• John Ireland (1879 - 1962): Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor:
• 4 Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor: I. Allegro - Tranquillo - Tempo I 08:56
• 5 Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor: II. Poco lento quasi adagio 09:26
• 6 Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Minor: III. In tempo moderato - Con brio 06:44
• James Francis Brown (b. 1969):
• 7 The Hart's Grace 06:55
• William Alwyn (1905 - 1985): Violin Sonatina in C Major:
• 8 Violin Sonatina in C Major: I. Allegro e grazioso 03:51
• 9 Violin Sonatina in C Major: II. Adagaio 04:09
• 10 Violin Sonatina in C Major: III. Vivace 03:14
• Eric Coates (1886 - 1957):
• 11 First Meeting (Version for Violin & Piano) 06:35
• Total Runtime 01:10:01

Info for British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3

Tasmin Little and Piers Lane complete their three-album overview of British violin sonatas with works by York Bowen, John Ireland, William Alwyn, Eric Coates, and the world premiere recording of James Francis Brown’s The Hart’s Grace. Composed for the inaugural Hertfordshire Festival of Music, the work was premiered by Tasmin in Hertford in June 2016. The central premise of The Hart’s Grace is the emotional transformation experienced by a restless observer when encountering the almost magical, elusive freedom of the deer. John Ireland composed his Second Sonata between 1915 and 1917, dedicating it to Albert Sammons who gave the premiere. Alwyn’s Sonatina dates from 1933, whilst the Coates and Bowen pieces were both composed during the Second World War (1943 and 1945 respectively). Coates’s First Meeting was commissioned by Lionel Tertis and originally conceived for viola, but it was revised for violin for its publication (in 1943).

Tasmin Little, violin
Piers Lane, piano

Tasmin Little
Tasmin has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent of the world. In addition to her regular solo performances, she has play/directed orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber, European Union Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. In 2007/08 she joined the London Mozart Players as soloist and director in a tour of the UK which also featured her UK conducting debut.

As a concerto player, Tasmin's performances in the 2010/11 season took her twice back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam where she performed violin concerti by Loevendie and Prokofiev. Other performances in 2010/11 include concerts in Australia, New Zealand and Slovenia, London’s South Bank Centre as well as a Festival at Kings Place, London, entitled 'Tasmin Little and Friends: Violin Journeys'.

In 2008, Tasmin made her sixteenth appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in a performance of the Concerto for Violin and Horn by Dame Ethyl Smyth. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire, and has received critical acclaim as one of the few violinists to have mastered Ligeti's challenging violin concerto. Her 2003 tour with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, during which she performed the concerto at the Proms, Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg Festival, New York's Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, received unanimous critical acclaim ('the technical command was glorious' The Guardian; 'very beautiful' Berliner Morgenpost; 'a major violin talent' Philadelphia Inquirer; 'a formidable soloist' New York Times). In 2007 she returned to the work with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

In 2006, Tasmin was Artistic Director of her hugely successful 'Delius Inspired' Festival, which was broadcast for an entire week on BBC Radio 3 in July. An exciting range of events, ranging from orchestral concerts and chamber music to films and exhibitions, also reached 800 school children in an ambitious programme designed to widen interest in classical music for young people. She was Artistic Director of Spring Sounds Festival from 2008 until 2010.

Her discography reflects her wide-ranging repertoire and includes twenty-five recordings, ranging from Bruch and Brahms to Karlowicz and Arvo Pärt. In March 2009 she released the disc 'Partners in Time', her follow-up to The Naked Violin, and in Autumn 2010 her long-awaited recording of the Elgar violin concerto was released on the Chandos label to unanimous critical acclaim. The recording celebrated the 100th anniversary of the concerto’s premiere and included a re-creation of a special version of the accompanied cadenza.

Tasmin is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, is a Fellow of the Guildhall of Music and Drama, is President of ESTA (European String Teachers Association), an Ambassador for Youth Music, and has received Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Bradford, Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London. In 2009, she received a prestigious Gold Badge Award for services to music.


She plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on kind loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Regent' Stradivarius of 1708.

Booklet for British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3