Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2023

Madeleine Mitchell (violin), Andrew Ball, Errollyn Wallen, Wendy Hiscocks, Nigel Clayton, Martin Butler, Kevin Malone, Howard Blake

Rawsthorne, A: Violin Sonata (1959)
Horovitz: Dybbuk Melody
Wallen: Sojourner Truth
Hiscocks: Caprice
Hiscocks: Dry White Fire
Knehans: Mist Waves
Musgrave: Colloquy
Butler, M: Barcarolles
Blackford: Worlds Apart
Malone: Your Call is Important to Us
Blake, H: The Ice Princess and the Snowman, Op. 699

Violinist Madeleine Mitchell has inspired new works from a variety of composers, many of whom share connections of various kinds. ‘Conversations’ sit at the heart of an album in which four pianist composers join Mitchell to perform their works. The music ranges from Alan Rawsthorne’s quicksilver 1958 Violin Sonata, heard here in a BBC broadcast to honour Mitchell’s two-decade partnership with the late Andrew Ball, to Thea Musgrave’s vivid Colloquy. The sequence of atmospheric, communicative pieces from contemporary composers explores natural phenomena, songs of freedom, telephonic frustration and a pas de deux love duet.

"Violin Conversations showcases the extraordinary range of works leading composers have written for Mitchell...finely honed passion (Rawsthorne Sonata) beautifully revealed.. a recording of subtle charm which shows just how approachable..contemporary music has become." - The Telegraph, 30th June 2023.