Although they have tended to be overshadowed in the context of his large and diverse output, the violin sonatas by Villa-Lobos directly chart the younger composer’s emergence, besides being music that is never less than appealing for all its overtones of previous styles or models.

Both earlier sonatas are designated Sonate-fantaisie, the First (1912) also subtitled Désespérance in alluding to its melancholic aura and an improvisatory structure whose occasionally more animated passages rarely offset the ongoing plaintiveness. The Second Sonata (1914) resorts to a more classical format but is otherwise appreciably more personal in its intensive dialogue, with some notably demonstrative writing for piano in the vivid expressive contrasts of the initial Allegro and rhythmically impetuous final Rondo. Most distinctive is the central Largo, its 10 minutes admirably proportioned and taking in music of overt songfulness along with a sustained emotional force that unerringly intimates the later composer. The influence of several decades of French music feels even more audible in the Third Sonata (1920), notably its opening Adagio, whose subtly modal harmony and fluid unfolding denote an Impressionist inflection. Deftly poised between scherzo and intermezzo, the central Allegro also yields an astringent humour, then the finale builds with mounting impulsiveness to its trenchant coda.

All three of these pieces have been variously recorded, not least in idiomatic performances by Jenny Abel with Roberto Szidon, but the insight and commitment of Emmanuele Baldini and Pablo Rossi help make the release an attractive proposition for those new to this music.