In the last years of his life, the great composer, violinist and swordsman Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) laboured at a vast cycle of sonatas for solo violin.

These days, Tartini is remembered by the general public only for his ‘Devil’s Trill’ Sonata but he is a far more important composer than that work would suggest: taken together, these sonatas form the most important composition for solo violin after Bach. Indeed, at six hours in duration, it is the largest integrated work for the instrument.

The music is surprisingly lyrical, often with echoes of folk-music from Tartini’s Istrian homeland.

This first complete recording – launched in the year which sees the 320th anniversary of Tartini’s birth – is based on a fresh study of the source and includes a number of works in Tartini’s shorthand, overlooked in earlier editions, and deciphered by the solo violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved for the first time.

Peter Sheppard Skærved is the dedicatee of over 300 new works for violin, and is the only violinist to have performed on Paganini’s, Viotti’s, Kreisler’s and Ole Bull’s violins. This pioneering recording was made on the Stradivari previously played by Joseph Joachim. He has prepared his own edition of the Tartini Sonate piccole based on a thorough study of Tartini’s manuscripts.