C. Schumann, D. E. Smyth & A. Beach: Works for Violin & Piano Tasmin Little, John Lenehan

• Amy Beach (1867 - 1944): Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 34:
• 1 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 34: I. Allegro moderato 09:12
• 2 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 34: II. Scherzo. Molto vivace 04:22
• 3 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 34: III. Largo con dolore 07:45
• 4 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 34: IV. Allegro con fuoco 06:59
• Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896): 3 Romances for Violin & Piano, Op. 22:
• 5 3 Romances for Violin & Piano, Op. 22: No. 1 in D-Flat Major. Andante molto 02:52
• 6 3 Romances for Violin & Piano, Op. 22: No. 2 in G Minor. Allegretto 02:21
• 7 3 Romances for Violin & Piano, Op. 22: No. 3 in B-Flat Major. Leidenschaftlich schnell 03:40
• Ethel Smyth (1858 - 1944): Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7:
• 8 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7: I. Allegro moderato 08:38
• 9 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7: II. Scherzo. Allegro grazioso 02:34
• 10 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7: III. Romanze. Andante grazioso 07:15
• 11 Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 7: IV. Finale. Allegro vivace 05:24
• Amy Beach: Romance for Violin & Piano in A Major, Op. 23:
• 12 Romance for Violin & Piano in A Major, Op. 23 06:19
• Invocation, Op. 55:
• 13 Invocation, Op. 55 03:56
• Total Runtime 01:11:17

Info for C. Schumann, D. E. Smyth & A. Beach: Works for Violin & Piano

Renowned violinist Tasmin Little returns to Chandos with a line-up of three women composers whose lives share some features but also significant differences that illustrate the complex lives of female musicians.

Clara Schumann, Dame Ethel Smyth and Amy Beach all came from families that encouraged their musical interests but balked, in varying degrees, at professional training and engagement. All three composers draw on the influence of Robert Schumann and Brahms; Beach and Smyth in particular were fond of metrical and motivic manipulation.

Tasmin Little plays this music close to her heart with her usual warmth and dexterity. The manuscript to Clara Schumann’s final chamber work Three Romances states ‘for piano and violin’, an ordering reflected in the relative complexity of the parts, the florid passagework here played beautifully by long-term collaborator with Little, John Lenehan.

Tasmin Little, violin
John Lenehan, piano

Tasmin Little
Tasmin has played with many of the world's greatest orchestras in a career that has taken her to every continent of the world. In addition to her regular solo performances, she has play/directed orchestras such as Royal Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber, European Union Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia. In 2007/08 she joined the London Mozart Players as soloist and director in a tour of the UK which also featured her UK conducting debut.

As a concerto player, Tasmin's performances in the 2010/11 season took her twice back to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam where she performed violin concerti by Loevendie and Prokofiev. Other performances in 2010/11 include concerts in Australia, New Zealand and Slovenia, London’s South Bank Centre as well as a Festival at Kings Place, London, entitled 'Tasmin Little and Friends: Violin Journeys'.

In 2008, Tasmin made her sixteenth appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in a performance of the Concerto for Violin and Horn by Dame Ethyl Smyth. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire, and has received critical acclaim as one of the few violinists to have mastered Ligeti's challenging violin concerto. Her 2003 tour with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, during which she performed the concerto at the Proms, Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg Festival, New York's Carnegie Hall and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, received unanimous critical acclaim ('the technical command was glorious' The Guardian; 'very beautiful' Berliner Morgenpost; 'a major violin talent' Philadelphia Inquirer; 'a formidable soloist' New York Times). In 2007 she returned to the work with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

In 2006, Tasmin was Artistic Director of her hugely successful 'Delius Inspired' Festival, which was broadcast for an entire week on BBC Radio 3 in July. An exciting range of events, ranging from orchestral concerts and chamber music to films and exhibitions, also reached 800 school children in an ambitious programme designed to widen interest in classical music for young people. She was Artistic Director of Spring Sounds Festival from 2008 until 2010.

Her discography reflects her wide-ranging repertoire and includes twenty-five recordings, ranging from Bruch and Brahms to Karlowicz and Arvo Pärt. In March 2009 she released the disc 'Partners in Time', her follow-up to The Naked Violin, and in Autumn 2010 her long-awaited recording of the Elgar violin concerto was released on the Chandos label to unanimous critical acclaim. The recording celebrated the 100th anniversary of the concerto’s premiere and included a re-creation of a special version of the accompanied cadenza.

Tasmin is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, is a Fellow of the Guildhall of Music and Drama, is President of ESTA (European String Teachers Association), an Ambassador for Youth Music, and has received Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Bradford, Leicester, Hertfordshire and City of London. In 2009, she received a prestigious Gold Badge Award for services to music.


She plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin and has, on kind loan from the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Regent' Stradivarius of 1708.

Booklet for C. Schumann, D. E. Smyth & A. Beach: Works for Violin & Piano