Her 2008 recording of Paganini’s 1st Concerto and Bruch’s Concerto (Claves CD 50-2808) was a revelation.

Alexandra Soumm’s career has since taken off like a rocket. The young French violinist is back again with the most intimate of repertoires: Edvard Grieg’s three Sonatas; which she interprets with great finesse and confidence together with her kinsman David Kadouch. Three jewels; three stepping stones in the creative life of the Norwegian composer; who described them as a “trilogy” at the end of his life.

Indeed; Grieg himself gave a recital of them in Copenhagen in 1900 with violinist Wilma Neruda; thus reliving three periods of his life. He then remarked: “In the first; I was naive but full of ideas; in the second; I became a “nationalist”. In the third; I think I reached the essence of things”. But what strikes us; first and foremost today; is the resemblance between them; says Etienne Barilier in the presentation booklet. “From one to the other; virtually no time seems to have elapsed. These works are as similar as three sisters; united in the joy of singing: they all three exude a delicate; striking melodic perfume; which has not evaporated despite the years”.