John Holloway / Jaap ter Linden / Lars Ulrik Mortensen JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR Sonatas

Following his acclaimed recordings of sonatas by Biber, Schmelzer and Veracini and his no less lauded rendering of the complete unaccompanied works by Bach, British violinst John Holloway once again joins forces with his excellent partners Jaap ter Linden and Lars Ulrik Mortensen for an album of strikingly beautiful, yet little known chamber music from the baroque era. Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764) who trained as a dancer, lacemaker, violinist and composer and was murdered in Paris under obscure circumstances, laid the foundations for the French violin school. As a composer he is a master of mixed styles, providing a rare synthesis of Italian and French traits, of melodic beauty and dancelike vivacity. John Holloway has chosen sonatas from his “classical” period in which Leclair had gained a perfect balance of proportion, expressiveness and virtuosic display. (ECM Records) 

This came as quite a revelation. Choosing five sonatas from what he believes to be Leclair’s finest collection, and, along with his colleagues, performing them with deep understanding and expressive finesse, John Holloway makes a persuasive case for the French violinist as a major figure of 18th-century music. … All three players capture unerringly each movement’s rhetorical style, and are sensitive to the many expressive details of harmony and melody, while remaining natural and unaffected. … I urge you to listen. (Duncan Druce / Gramophone)