Catherine Mackintosh and Geoffrey Govier formed Duo Amadè in order to perform the charming and intimate works of Mozart for this combination in concert, often with readings from his family letters. In 2006 Duo Amadè performed the whole cycle at the Royal College of Music.  

The first set of Duo Sonatas was released in late 2008 and received a Gramophone Editor’s Choice in praise of its musicality and ‘historically informed performance’.  Mackintosh in particular has long been recognised as one of the pioneering early music protagonists and is fulfilling the ambition of a lifetime with the complete cycle of Duo Sonatas.  

Duo Amadè once again offers a charming and intimate performance, presenting the Opus 1 sonatas KV 296, 304, 305 and 306 written in 1778 when sonatas for the piano ‘accompanied’ by a violin were then all the rage.  

Geoffrey Govier plays a fortepiano after Anton Walter made by Christopher Clare in Cluny while Catherine plays a violin dating from 1703 by Giovanni Grancino. These instruments bring a lightness and freshness of articulation to these delightful works, entirely in keeping with the spirit of enlightenment in which the sonatas were written.

 

MOZART: DUO SONATAS, VOLUME 2

Catherine Mackintosh and Geoffrey Govier formed Duo Amadè in order to perform the charming and intimate works for violin and fortepiano by Mozart in concert, often with readings from the Mozart family’s letters. In 2006 they performed the whole cycle at the Royal College of Music. Volume 1 of the Duo Sonatas was released in 2008 and made an ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone which praised the musicality and historically informed style of the performances. In this second volume, Duo Amadè plays the Sonatas KV 304, 305 and 306 from Opus 1 as well as KV 296, all written in 1778, when sonatas for piano accompanied by the violin were all the rage.