Toch: Violin Sonata No. 1, Cello Sonata & String Trio

This program documents almost four decades of Ernst Toch’s artistic development. Referred to by his friends as ‘Brahms’s Fourth’, Toch’s First Violin Sonata wears its 19th century heritage on its sleeve but marks the end of the composer’s early period. The Divertimento and Cello Sonata were written when he was at his most productive in the 1920s, while the passionate String Trio is the work of an exile determined not to compromise a style declared ‘asphalt music’ by the Nazis. The Adagio elegiaco commemorates the many relatives and friends Toch lost to the Holocaust. Other chamber works can be heard on Naxos 8559282 and 8559324, of which ClassicsToday.com wrote, ‘Spectrum Concerts Berlin provides committed and powerfully rendered performances, all captured in first-rate sound.’