Violin Sonatas : Holloway, Mortensen, Ter Linden

JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR (1697-1764)
Troisieme Livre de Sonates, Op. 5

Sonata VIII in D major
Sonata VII in a minor
Sonata I in A major
Sonata III in e minor
Sonata IV in B flat major

John Holloway, violin
Jaap ter Linden, violoncello
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, harpsichord

Digital Recording: 27-29/11/2006

English baroque violinist John Holloway once again joins forces with his excellent partners Dutch cellist Jaap ter Linden and Danish harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen for an album of strikingly beautiful, yet little known chamber music from the baroque era.

Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764), who laid the foundations for the French violin school, was a particularly interesting figure. He trained as a dancer, lacemaker, violinist and composer and was active in several European cities such as Torino, Lyons, Paris, Amsterdam and Kassel. He was murdered in Paris under never fully detected circumstances. As a composer he was a master of mixed styles, providing a rare synthesis of Italian and French traits, of melodic beauty and dancelike vivacity. John Holloway has chosen sonatas from his “classical” period - a selection from the Troisieme Livre de Sonates, op 5 - in which Leclair had gained a perfect balance of proportion, lightness, expressiveness, contrapuntal art and virtuosic display.