There are not perhaps a great many really familiar English violin sonatas, but those available on record are of quality, notably the works of Elgar and Walton, the four of Delius and the two of Ireland. Of these three fine further examples (all new to CD), that by Eugene Goossens (1918) is the most substantial and on the largest scale, but William Hurlstone’s sonata of 1897, with its disarmingly easy melodic flow and its witty scherzando finale (which also produces a memorable second subject) is most endearing.

Percy Turnbull’s Sonata of 1925 is introduced with an opening movement which has a similarly engaging facility of invention: its Andante broods gently, and the animated finale brings a Ravelian innocence of feeling in the piano part, with the violin soaring above in elated response.

Goossens was more famous as a conductor than a composer but his sonata is remarkably assured. The style is thoroughly Romantic, but also draws eclectically on the more ambivalent musical background of the period. Yet its (not very) modern touches only serve as decoration to the music’s underlying warm lyrical feeling, and fine craftsmanship – the beautifully tailored close of the first movement, for instance. The Adagio draws on a folk theme, but transforms it idyllically, and the sparkling Con brio finale features a genial, lolloping principal rhythmic figure, also with a folksy flavour, to great effect. The piano part throughout is just as brilliant and demanding as the violin writing, and both these artists rise to the occasion, as they do in the other two sonatas, playing con amore and with plenty of spirit and attack. The recording is excellent, well balanced in a pleasing acoustic. A most enjoyable trio.