In 1900 the fifty-six-year-old Edvard Grieg cast an eye back over his music and confessed that he thought his three violin sonatas were among his best works, each of them representing a stage in his development, ‘the first naïve, rich in ideas, the second national and the third with a wider horizon’.

On this disc violinist Hagai Shaham displays his thrilling virtuosity and lustrous tone in his performances of Greig’s favourite sonatas, through the lyrical, spring-like freshness of Sonata No 1 and the playful rustic folk-inspired charm of Sonata No 2 to the brooding and dramatic Sonata No 3.

Also on this disc are six of Grieg’s piano miniatures, arranged for violin and piano by the Lithuanian-born violinist, Joseph Achron.