Leonidas Kavakos has been widely praised for his passionate performances combining physicality with an intense intimacy. He returns to the Festival after a triumphant recital in 2008, when he also had popular success with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, with whom he performs Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No 2 in the Usher Hall this year.

Joined by the inspirational Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky, a performer who mixes subtle refinement with breathtaking virtuosity, Kavakos performs four ravishing chamber masterpieces.

Brahms’s dreamy, rain-inspired First Sonata is full of languid melodies and graceful tenderness, while Respighi’s seldom-heard Violin Sonata is a turbulent piece, with passionate climaxes and soaring solo lines. Violin and piano are in competition in Stravinsky’s fiery Duo concertante, and Janácˇ ek’s folk-inspired Violin Sonata swings restlessly between sunny melodies and episodes of great poignancy.