The pair of violinist Francesca Dego and pianist Francesca Leonardi have moved from Deutsche Grammophon to Chandos and from Beethoven to Mozart. The less formal Chandos vibe seems to suit them well, and here they are quite charismatic. They don't break any new ground in these performances of four Mozart sonatas for violin and piano, or really piano and violin, for the earlier ones show traces of the genre's origins in a piano sonata with an optional violin part, but Dego and Leonardi are alert to the ways in which Mozart ...
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The pair of violinist Francesca Dego and pianist Francesca Leonardi have moved from Deutsche Grammophon to Chandos and from Beethoven to Mozart. The less formal Chandos vibe seems to suit them well, and here they are quite charismatic. They don't break any new ground in these performances of four Mozart sonatas for violin and piano, or really piano and violin, for the earlier ones show traces of the genre's origins in a piano sonata with an optional violin part, but Dego and Leonardi are alert to the ways in which Mozart was thinking out this new genre as he went along. They are lively and lyrical throughout, with a fine sense of communication between the two. Listen to the variation finale of the Violin Sonata in A major, K. 305. It's not generally thought of as top-drawer Mozart, but here, it might as well be with the fetching phrasing of the two players in the theme and the elegant unfolding of the little variation set. The sound from the Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile, Italy, is a bit cavernous for...
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