Søren Elbæk, Elisabeth Westenholz - Niels Gade: The Violin Sonatas (1992)

Niels Gade's three violin sonatas are spread across his entire career, the early A major dating from 1842 before his period of study in Leipzig, while the late B flat major was written in 1885, just five years before his death. Like Sibelius later Gade in his younger years entertained notions of becoming a violin virtuoso and the First and Second Sonatas (the latter composed in 1849 shortly after his return to Copenhagen) are products of this active interest in and familiarity with the instrument. The First is well laid-out for both instruments, evidencing Gade's undoubted facility, but is expressively rather immature and a bit of a disappointment when set against other works of his from the early-to-mid-1840s, such as H the Overture Echoes from Ossian (Op. 1) or the First Symphony (Op. 5). The Second Sonata in D minor is a marked improvement in this respect—indeed the best of the three, a fine mid-century sonata with telescoped slow movement and scherzo. No. 3 is neat enough but provides no real advance on the Second and lacks its predecessors' freshness. By the 1880s Gade's inspiration was burning a little low and it shows.
If the music does not represent Gade at his best, it is still eminently listenable to, especially in sympathetic performances as here from Soren Elbaek and Elisabeth Westenholz, so full marks to Kontrapunkt for their sustained endeavour. The recording is clean and natural and a shade better than some of the other discs in this series.