Violinist Richard Tognetti and keyboard virtuoso Erin Helyard – described by Limelight’s Will Yeoman as “two of Australia’s most exciting, original and thoughtful musicians” – have taken out Best Independent Classical Album or EP at this year’s AIR Awards for their album of violin sonatas by Beethoven and Mozart, including Beethoven’s famous “Kreutzer” Sonata. The album of HIP interpretations, featuring Helyard on fortepiano, was Limelight’s Recording of the Month in March.

Richard Tognetti, Erin HelyardRichard Tognetti and Erin Helyard. Photo © Prudence Upton

In his review, Yeoman described the pair’s performance of Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ as “one of the most thrilling recent accounts of one of Beethoven’s most thrilling chamber works”.

“But the musical pleasures which Richard Tognetti and Erin Helyard offer up before getting stuck into Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ are such that you wonder whether it’s more about a cumulative effect rather than this single, albeit singular, performance,” he wrote.

The award for Best Independent Label went to ABC Music, which will receive a digital marketing package valued at $10,000, sponsored by Moshtix.

The AIR Awards ceremony, which is presented each year by the Australian Independent Record Labels Association, took place at the Lion Arts Factory...