Edward Elgar spent the summer of 1918 in the countryside. In August he received reports of the approaching end of the First World War, and this good news so inspired him that he was able to finish an initial draft of his great Violin Sonata in barely four weeks. Writing about it in his diary, he notated laconically: "Wrote some music".

His wife Alice was more enthusiastic: "E. writing wonderful new music, different from anything else of his". This magnificent music is now available in a Henl...