Martin Roscoe and Peter Cropper release Beethoven Violin Sonatas
When it comes to performing Beethoven, there are some things that do matter and some that don't: Peter Cropper and Martin Roscoe are strong on the things that do.
Rob Cowan, Gramophone, April 2007
Martin Roscoe and Peter Cropper's recordings of Beethoven Violin Sonatas on the ASV Gold label are receiving much critical acclaim and have been given major reviews in The BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, The International Record Review and The Times:
"...Played like this, you can imagine how explosive and unsettling Beethoven must have sounded in polite aristocratic salons and Biedermeier drawing rooms - the tiger in the parlour. Cropper's energy and volatility are also very welcome in the C minor Sonata, and with Roscoe's help he makes this strangely changing work convincing on its own terms..."
BBC Music Magazine, May 2007
"...I always thought Peter Cropper a slightly too dominant influence over the now disbanded Lindsay Quartet. But his natural assertiveness suits Beethoven's violin sonatas, especially when matched by the forthrightness of Martin Roscoe at the piano. These are, characteristically, deeply honest performances. The violin is steely and earthy, full of colour. They revel in the playful turns of Op 12 No 2 in A, warm to the lyricism and harmonic and rhythmic adventures of the "Spring" Sonata, Op 24, are ignited by the energies of the G major work, Op 30 No 3, and bring concentrated intensity to Op 23 in A minor - all the while making the music sound as fresh and revolutionary as it indeed is..."
Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times, 9 September 2007
The duo have released two volumes of this three volume project, with the third issue due for release in the near future. Volume One includes the sonatas in D, Op. 12/1; in C minor, Op.30/2; in G, Op.96; Volume Two is comprised of the sonatas in A op.12/2; in A minor op.23; in F op.24 'Spring' and No.8 in G op.30/3.
