Grieg's violin sonatas span his creative life, the first two dating from his early twenties, before his Piano Concerto, and the Third Sonata of 1887 belonging to the last decade of his life. They used to be repertory pieces, and the fervent performance of No. 3 by Kreisler and Rachmaninov, recorded in 1928, is still available as part of a three-disc Kreisler set on Biddulph. However, they have not been played so often in recent years, and it is good to welcome new sets of all three sonatas, both of which have much to offer.
On DG, Augustin Dumay brings to this music a very attractive quality of a youthful seigneur, manifest in the impetuosity, charm and command of his playing. He and Maria-Joao Pires take around a minute less over the first movement of the First Sonata than Lydia and Elena Mordkovitch, and their urgency in this Allegro con brio seems wholly legitimate, although the more sober spaciousness of the Chandos artists also deserves respect. One hears the DG team at their considerable best in the G major Sonata, with its vivid first movement, lilting Allegretto and triumphant finale—whose conclusion these artists lift to the skies. The recording does full justice to Dumay's silky and resourceful tone, and while it sometimes makes Pires subservient, this is not always the case—as witness the wonderfully Norwegian melody that she plays at 1'17'' in the first movement of the C minor Sonata, or the beautiful piano opening to its slow movement, where she plays lovingly and is echoed no less affectionately by the violinist. Indeed, she is rightly an equal partner, and both artists bring an infectiously fresh response to the music. The finale of the C minor Sonata, music that anticipates Sibelius in its urgency and elemental force, is compellingly played.
As regards the Chandos disc, I feel that one's preference between this and the DG version could well depend on one's view of the music. With the Chandos artists we find a cooler approach, with Lydia and Elena Mordkovitch bringing a quieter richness to the music which is in itself rewarding. However, coming to them after the other pair, as I did, I find the playing of the two youthful sonatas sounds rather safe: it does not take flight or radiate joy as that of Dumay and Pires does. Nor does the Third Sonata thrill as it should. Without wishing to detract from the skill of Chandos's team, or from a typically pleasing recording, I prefer the performances of Dumay and Pires.'