On the evidence of this disc, the violin sonata is alive and kicking in 21st-century America. The form has a fine history in the United States, with examples by Copland (1943), Harris (1942), Mennin (1956), Piston (1939) and Ives (four, 1902-16). Bernstein penned a sonata very early in his career (in 1939!) but is represented here by his brief Canon for Aaron (composed in 1970 to mark Copland’s 70th birthday).The three featured sonatas are all of more recent provenance and, moreover, were written at the behest of the violinist Cho-Liang Lin.

Paul Schoenfeld’s Sonata (2009) is the earliest and largest of the three, stylistically something of a mash-up, its four movements revealing very different inspirations and even dates of origin (the third, ‘Romanza’, for example, is based on an unfinished piece from his teens in the 1960s). The opening ‘Vanishing Point’ derives its structure from David Markson’s novel of the same name, the concluding ‘Freilach’ (Yiddish for ‘a joyous song or dance’) from Eastern European folk models. Its heart, though, is the Intermezzo, the grave beauty – and compositional subtlety – of which belies the rather inconsequential title.

Steven Stucky’s Sonata (2013) is a late work, written three years before his death. There is a rival recording from Nicholas DiEugenio and Mimi Solomon (New Focus) which I have not heard, running some 90 seconds longer overall. A concentrated, often thorny work, it was inspired at several removes by Debussy’s, written at an equivalent moment in his career. Despite the marking, much of the opening Calmo is anything but, but the scherzo finale sparkles. It is, nonetheless, a more straightforward listen than John Harbison’s stark, lean, tonally ambiguous First Sonata (2011), constructed – but not sounding – like a Baroque suite. Lin and Kimura Parker make a sympathetic partnership, performing each work as well as one could hope. Fine sound.