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Last night we attended a private recital given by violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist Simon Crawford-Philips. In a wide-ranging programme they gave us Handel's Sonata in D, Beethoven's Sonata Op. 30 no. 2, Delius's Sonata in B and Debussy's Sonata. One of the fascinating things that the recital pointed up was the difference and relationship between the violin and accompanying instrument over the period. Handel was born 85 years before Beethoven, Delius and Debussy were both born 92 years after Beethoven, a strikingly neat spacing of material. Perhaps the Debussy and Delius sonatas need to be rather more lived-in than these performances were, Waley-Cohen has the technique and style but not quite discovered the essence of these pieces, something that comes only gradually.

Earlier this year, at the same venue, we heard a performance of a Vivaldi violin concerto called Il Gran Mogul, so I rather did wonder about the relationship between this concerto and the recently discovered Flute concerto by Vivaldi of the same name.