Medtner’s three violin-and-piano sonatas represent his only substantial chamber works. He was a gifted pianist but, as listeners will soon discover, he writes for the violin with equal distinction and imagination. The Sonata epica, completed in 1938 in memory of his older brother, Emil, must be one of the longest works for the medium at over 45 minutes. Yet such is the variety of tone and texture, with rhythmic inventiveness held in check by motivic coherence, that there’s no question of the music outstaying its welcome. Emotionally, Medtner’s music is more reticent; he favours a modal form of tonality, which imparts to many passages a gently muted, melancholic tone. But as the Sonata proceeds, there’s a distinct progression of feeling: after the capricious Scherzo, the sombre Andante strikes a deeper note, and towards the end of the eventful finale there’s a wonderful cadenza-like passage where E major is finally established as a goal.

The First Sonata is much shorter and here, too, there’s a strong progression of mood through the work, from the somewhat overcast ‘Barcarolle’ of the first movement, through the syncopated ‘Danza’ (by turns charming and, in its faster section, brilliant with a grotesque edge), to the final ‘Ditirambo’. Marked festivamente but for the most part more meditative than one would expect, this suggests a procession arriving and then receding. Hanslip and Tchetuev are impressive as interpreters: his fine touch and beautifully balanced chordal playing is matched by her lovely tone and phrasing – her singing legato lines are an especial delight.