Edvard Grieg’s three violin sonatas use the classic three-movement layout in a very individual and virtuosic way, and both instruments have equal opportunities to show off their musical and technical abilities.

Two of the three violin sonatas are works of the young composer who, following his studies in Leipzig, was in search of his own romantic, indigenous folkloric style; the third sonata is exemplary of his self-confident and firmly established sound. In a letter to Norway’s celebrated author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson from January 16, 1900, Grieg wrote about his three violin sonatas: “These three works are among my very best and represent different stages in my development: the first, naïve and rich in ideals; the second, nationalistic; and the third with a wider outlook.”