"The works on this intimately recorded album move in wildly differing circles. Elgar’s wistful Romanticism contrasts with the exotic soundworlds of Debussy’s Sonata and Boulanger’s sprightly miniature. Janáček looks to the future with bold colours and spiky rhythms coupled with a sense of unease. Violinist Benjamin Baker and pianist Daniel Lebhardt perform each work with consummate skill and an unalloyed passion"

"Three violin sonatas from early in the 20th century, by Claude Debussy, Edward Elgar and Leoš Janáček, peaks of the repertoire, are the focus of 1919: Coda (Delphian), a recital by the New Zealand-born violinist Benjamin Baker and his Hungarian duo partner, the pianist Daniel Lebhardt. Europe was on the brink of wholesale change in the aftermath of the first world war. This is the mood, rather than any date-specific reasons, captured by the album’s title: a coda to a vanishing existence.

All three sonatas are mature works, each a beguiling union of wistful restraint and sweeping passion. Debussy and Elgar were reaching the end of their careers; Janáček went on to a rich late flowering. Lili Boulanger died in 1918 but, aged only 24, her life had barely begun. Three pieces by her, including D’un matin de printemps, give poignant contrast. Baker and Lebhardt, who listen and respond to each other precisely and sensitively, are ideal and impassioned guides"

"The end of a turbulent decade, and listening to the music you can hear a world illuminated that was about to vanish ... powerful and poignant, the sound of music on the edge of something new - Janacek wrote it as World War One was breaking out. He's in good company. Lili Boulanger and Claude Debussy died in 1918, and some of Elgar's finest late music was from the end of the war. Three excellent sonatas played with passion and understanding here, making for a compelling recital. It puts us into the sound of Europe emerging into a different world"

RECORD REVIEW

" By 1919, two of the named composers were dead and a third was worn out. Only Leos Janacek was firing on all cylinders – indeed, on more cylinders than he ever had before. If 1919 was a benchmark, it is not evident from their lifecycles. However, the year does mark an end-point for the war era and these sonatas exist in that immediate past, with no thought of present or future ... Bringing these disparities to life are two UK-based musicians, the New Zealand violinist Benjamin Baker and the Hungarian pianist Daniel Lebhardt. If they strive a little too hard for conventional beauty in Janacek, their austerity is perfect for Debussy and Elgar, evoking a restrained sympathy for these morbid confessions The playing is marvellously poised, an exemplary concept album aptly adapted to each composer’s circumstances and individuality. Baker and Lebhardt tell four very human stories, each of them flawed. I was on the edge of my seat throughout."

La Scena Musicale
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
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"Janáček’s Sonata, inspired by reports of the Russian army’s early successful advances, more obviously reflects the War. Pianist Daniel Lebhardt is excellent throughout ... In the Elgar Baker refrains from self-conscious point making, and this, along with Lili Boulanger’s unpretentious and diverting three pieces, receives the most successful performance here"