Occasionally you come across a strange new musical genre. This time around for me, it’s Circus-Opera, invented by extraordinary 30-something composer Chloé Charody, who also happens to be the creator of these two sonatas for violin and piano.

I mention this upfront as a vivid theatricality is a key component of all Charody’s work, whether it’s orchestral, music theatre, instrumental or opera/circus-opera/ballet-opera.

So, it’s unsurprising that the two sonatas under discussion, Tale of the Firebird and LIMBO have a life on the stage that very much includes circus and a use of acrobatics, fire and costume on the part even of the violin soloist such that it gives new meaning to the term “extended technique”. If you don’t believe me, check out the YouTube video library on Charody’s website (chloecharody.com).

Which all begs the question: how does this chamber music – surely the antithesis of opera in terms of scale and intimacy – fare when shorn of the stage component?

Very well, as it turns out and for two reasons. Firstly, the music has...