Music for Violin & PIano by Franz Liszt

I was surprised to hear of a CD featuring music for violin and piano by a major composer, never having heard of the music before. But a new Naxos CD announces music for violin and piano by Franz Liszt, a composer beloved of pianists and known mainly for his piano music. But lo and behold, we have a Duo Sonata on Polish themes (a sort-of 22 minute variation in four movements on Chopin's Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 6 No.2); a nice 10 minute piece called The Three Gypsies and written for the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi; a 15 minute Grand duo concertant on Lafont's “Le marin”; and a few other shorter works. A total of 70 minutes of highly enjoyable and tuneful music, all entirely unknown to me until this week. Another reason to give thanks to companies such as Naxos.

The music is performed by Voytek Proniewicz and Wojciech Waleczek, hardly names that trip off the tongue. Difficult to judge how well they do, having no competition and playing music I did not know at all. But they make enjoyable sounds and are well balanced and well recorded. An excellent addition to repertoire of likeable music for violin and piano.