Hyperion Records

The Sonata in B flat, bBb1, is an excellent example of Tartini’s later ‘graceful and expressive manner’, with a melodious opening Largo (in the composer’s favourite siciliana rhythm), and a remarkably simple succeeding Allegro. Throughout, the double and triple stops are used not to display the virtuosity of the player (which is taken for granted), but to sketch in enough harmonies to make the expressive violin line more or less self-sufficient. We are not far removed here from the solo violin studies of the late eighteenth century, or even from the more expressive caprices of Paganini.

from notes by Peter Holman © 1992