Violin Sonata No. 2 in E minor, Op. 108

Fauré’s 2nd Violin Sonata was written in 1916 in Evian and Paris, the first in a series of chamber music works. It is thus one of Fauré late works, characterised by austerity, introspection and the intensity of its expression. It is hard to imagine a greater contrast to the brilliant and ornamental style of the virtuosic 1st Violin Sonata (HN 980), published 40 years earlier. The 2nd Sonata concentrates on the essentials, and on closer contact turns out to be a fascinating composition that harmonically explores the limits of tonality, delving deep into the modernism of the 1920s.