Ian Watson and Susanna Ogata’s acclaimed series on CORO Connections continues with the fourth disc in their exploration of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin. The Opus 12 Sonatas that are explored on this final volume are among the most Mozartian of the sonatas. They are, however, filled with Beethoven’s inimitable voice, from the assertive Sonata No.1, in the violin’s most brilliant and sonorous key of D major, to the pianistically brilliant No.3 in E flat with its cascades of triplets and sextuplets. Unmistakably Beethoven!

Ian Watson has been described by The Times as a keyboard performer with ‘virtuosic panache and brilliantly articulated playing’ and ‘a world-class soloist.’ He was appointed Associate Conductor of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in September 2016.

Susanna Ogata has been praised for ‘totally convincing, spontaneous and free-flowing playing’ (The Berkshire Review) and her musical ‘sensitivity and fire’ (Boston Musical Intelligencer). A tenured member of the Handel and Haydn Society, she was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the orchestra in 2014.

“There's something positively gleeful about the way the pair deliver the opening gambit of Op. 30 No. 8, and the same sonata's Haydnesque finale practically swings.” – Gramophone on Volume 3