Violin Sonatas: Strauss, Respighi and Ponce

With her debut album for IBS Classical, violinist Valerie Steenken presents an inspired and deeply personal interpretation of three major violin sonatas from the early twentieth century, recorded in collaboration with pianist Ricardo Alí Álvarez. The programme—linking late-Romantic expressiveness with the clarity and balance of neoclassical modernity—offers a fascinating journey across continents, traditions, and musical identities.

The album opens with Ottorino Respighi’s Sonata in B minor, P 110 (1917), a work of symphonic breadth, harmonic depth, and emotional richness. Steenken and Álvarez reveal its grandeur and lyric intimacy through an interpretation that balances power with nuance. It continues with Manuel M. Ponce’s Sonata breve, a concise and luminous score in which the Mexican composer fuses European elegance with rhythmic vitality and the distinctive colours of Latin-American expression. The recording concludes with Richard Strauss’s Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18, composed in 1888—a youthful, exuberant work whose passion and lyricism foreshadow the composer’s later orchestral brilliance.

Recorded at the SONY Auditorium of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid in September 2024 and produced by Paco Moya, the album stands out for its radiant sound and interpretative coherence. The duo’s long-standing collaboration yields a rare sense of unity and eloquence: Steenken’s glowing tone and refined phrasing find their ideal counterpart in Álvarez’s warm, transparent, and deeply musical pianism.

Born in Spain to German parents, Valerie Steenken has established herself as one of the most versatile and expressive violinists of her generation. She currently serves as Concertmaster of the Spanish National Orchestra and has appeared as guest concertmaster with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, and the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. Winner of the First Grand Award at the Manhattan International Music Competition (2025), she combines dazzling technical command with a natural lyricism that reflects her dual heritage and international outlook.

Valerie Steenken – violin
Ricardo Alí Álvarez – piano