Switchback: Contemporary American Duos for Violin and Piano

Modern American music has long been characterised by kaleidoscopic variety, reflecting the vigour and optimism of American culture more generally. John Corigliano's early Violin Sonata is a work of the mid-twentieth century. But his own assessment of the piece - 'Its eclecticism, its rhythmic energy, and its bright character give the Sonata a very American quality' - could be applied with equal merit to the three 21st-century scores that accompany it here, all four switching easily between gentle introspection and rhythmic vivacity.