Beethoven: Violin Sonatas

Acclaimed Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos makes his Decca Classics debut with the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas. A young artist of rare quality, Leonidas Kavakos won the Sibelius Violin Competition in 1985, when still in his teens and, three years later, the Paganini Competition. Often described as “the violinist’s violinist”, Der Tagesspiegel wrote that Kavakos has “quite possibly the most beautiful violin tone imaginable”. He has appeared with conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev and Iván Fischer, and with the world’s major orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The Independent on Sunday, 17th February 2013 ***** “In their beautifully balanced survey of Beethoven's Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Kavakos and Pace allow us to eavesdrop on 10 intimate conversations between musical equals.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013 “This is a notably well-played set, and Pace and Kavakos have considered deeply how to present Beethoven's ideas in the clearest, most vivid way. Phrases are precisely articulated, the dynamic shapes and stress points brought into clear focus.” bbc.co.uk, 18th March 2013 “Kavakos' tone is both sweet and full-blooded, never overblown; Pace's contribution is lithe, characterful and sensitive...this vital, joyous set of Beethoven's boundary pushing sonatas takes its place among the very best.” International Record Review, May 2013 “[Op. 96] holds some of the most delicate and refined playing of the set...This is a milestone in Kavakos's remarkable career and a worthy successor to the four-decades-old Perlman/Ashkenazy classic.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2013 **** “If you like your Beethoven serious in tone, intellectually concentrated, free of caprice or any hint of waywardness, then this set is likely to please...Both players seem very much of the same mind in this performance [of the Kreutzer], and there's clearly a strong rapport between them.” MusicWeb International, 25th June 2013 “As a duo they are at the level of their illustrious forebears. In general, Kavakos and Pace approach these sonatas as Classical works and present them from a patrician point of view...theirs may become my reference edition of these particular sonatas.”