Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano, opus 4 (1949)

One of Leighton's earliest major works, composed when he was a 19-year-old undergraduate at Queen's College, Oxford.

The first performance took place in July 1949 in the Grand Theatre, Bordeaux, during a tour by the Oxford University Musical Club.  The violinist was Christopher Strode, the sonata's dedicatee, who was reading medicine at New College at the time and the composer played the piano.  The three movements follow one another without a break.

  Allegro molto e appassionato
  Lento e espressivo, ma liberamente
  Presto energico