Violist
Lionel Tertis
and cellist
Pablo Casals
were both born on December 29, 1876. They were friends, and both did much to popularize and attract repertory to their respective instruments. It was a good day to be born, for both lived into their late nineties.
Tertis
is a familiar-enough figure among string players and aficionados of the early 20th century British scene, but he deserved the tribute that violist
Timothy Ridout
(who has already recorded
' transcription of the
Walton
Cello Concerto
for viola) offers here.
is not well represented on recordings, so it is not really clear to what degree
Ridout
replicates his style. (Certainly, it does to some degree;
' influence on British viola teaching was and remains deep.) Yet the program represents his activities in an engaging way. Although
Arnold Bax
wrote a good deal of music for
, there is nothing by him here; perhaps another album is on the way, but there is a good deal of music that is not widely available elsewhere, certainly not in one place. There are attractive miniatures by
himself, a variety of transcriptions he made of well-known pieces, and a genuine oddity, an obbligato part for the first movement of
Beethoven
's
"Moonlight" Sonata
. There are three more substantial works, the
Viola Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 18
by
York Bowen
; the viola version of
Vaughan Williams
'
Six Studies in English Folk Song
; and the
Viola Sonata
of
Rebecca Clarke
. The last two were not written for
, but
Clarke
was a fine violist herself, and nothing seems out of place. The
work, skillfully exploiting the viola's lower reaches, is especially nicely done. A must for violists, this is of interest to any lover of 20th century English music, and it made classical best-seller charts in early 2024. ~ James Manheim