MICHELE ESPOSITO (1855-1929): Violin Sonatas in G, Op. 32, in E Minor, Op. 46 and in A, Op. 67, Cello Sonata, Op. 43.

Description: This Italian pianist, composer, conductor and teacher spent 46 years as a professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (where Hamilton Harty was his most famous pupil). His compositional idiom here is not Italian and it uses no Irish elements either; his teachers, Martucci and Sgambati, leaned toward Brahms but not Esposito. No, these melodically appealing, formally clear and elegantly presented sonatas are French, a bit Faurean if anything. Did I mention melodically appealing? The guy could really come up with memorable melodies! Mia Cooper (violin), William Butt (cello), Lance Coburn (piano).