In the first part of his career Günter Raphael (1903-60) enjoyed performances of his music by Germany’s leading musicians, among them the Busch Quartet and Wilhelm Furtwängler. But declared a ’half-jew’ by the Nazis in 1934, he was forced from his prestigious teaching position in Leipzig. Confined to hospital by tuberculosis during the War years, he continued to compose while his doctors protected him from persecution. These violin works - strongly melodic and rhythmically vital - continue the mainstream of German Romanticism as refracted through Hindemith; the two solo sonatas have echoes of Bach.
"...One can sense that these gifted artists play this music with obvious inner conviction. This is a fascinating and no doubt, in its way, important issue."
Robert Matthew-Walker