After tackling Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Schoenberg and Hindemith, Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen now focus their attention to the late-romantic English composer Edward Elgar. ‘Mot d’amour’, which takes its title from one of his early compositions for violin, presents a substantial part of Elgar’s output for violin and piano, which spans his entire career.

Best known for his symphonic and choral works, Elgar is also the composer of chamber works that, although few in number, attain a high standard. The Violin Sonata, a mature composition contemporary with his two other major chamber pieces, is regarded by Elgar connoisseurs as one of his masterpieces. Inspired by Brahms’s sonatas, Elgar’s own, composed in the peaceful surroundings of his rented cottage in the countryside, is a work of wide expressive range and emotional impact in which every superfluous note has been eliminated from the overall design.

As for the other pieces that appear here, they show a lighter side to the composer, sometimes playful, sometimes melancholic. Unashamedly belonging to the genre of salon music, these works testify to Elgar’s versatility as well as to his melodic gift and his ability to turn a seemingly light genre into a vehicle for secret emotion, often charming but always devoid of sentimentality.