This new issue from EM Records includes the world-premiere recording of Ivor Gurney's Sonata in D major for Violin and Piano (c.1918-1919).

The Sonata for Violin and Piano, op.82, of Edward Elgar is a work whose presence in recording catalogues has been steadily strengthening during the last few years. Last year, however, the prestigious German publishing house G. Henle Verlag issued a new scholarly-critical edition of the work which draws on all the extant sources – the composition sketches and drafts, a proof copy annotated by Elgar, and the first edition – and, in the process, clarifies and resolves the anomalies which remained in the edition published by Novello in 1919 and which has been the score principally used by performers since. EM Records is therefore delighted to include a recording of this well-loved Sonata which uses the new Henle edition, in the process revealing unsuspected subtleties of expression and a new fusion with the composer's original intentions.

Elgar's Sonata is one of his last completed works, and it will be complemented on the recording by three of the composer's earliest offerings – which are also certainly among his most popular. Salut d'Amour, op.12, and Chanson de Nuit and Chanson de Matin, together constituting op.15, are, again, presented using scholarly-critical editions from G. Henle Verlag, casting a refreshing light on these beautifully-crafted miniatures.

EM Records was privileged to release, in 2013, the first-ever recording of a violin-and-piano sonata by Ivor Gurney; and we are therefore thrilled to have been offered the opportunity to record the same composer's Sonata for Violin and Piano in D major, dedicated to Gurney's friend and fellow war poet F.W. Harvey. Although the manuscript is undated, evidence suggests the work was rigorously tried through, if not performed: in particular, the violin part (copied out by Gurney's champion Marion Scott) incorporates fingering and other technical suggestions; and performance timings are also noted. Like the shifting light cast by a windswept sky, the Sonata contrasts exuberant energy and passionate outbursts with moments of quiet solemnity and brooding introspection. It is a richly rewarding discovery.