Brahms: Two songs for contralto with viola obbligato, Op. 91

Considered the first really modern violist, legendary Scottish musician William Primrose first came to prominence with the violin in the 1920s, turning to the viola on the recommendation of his greatest mentor, Eugène Ysaÿe. This programme includes four Paganini Caprices, which did more than any other of Primrose’s recordings to spread his fame among his peers, as well as two major works written especially for him: Arthur Benjamin’s Sonata, and Roy Harris’s Soliloquy and Dance. Primrose performs here with numerous noted accompanists, and alongside Jascha Heifetz in Halvorsen’s Passacaglia. This is the second of two volumes, the first of which is on 8111382.

The recorded legacy of William Primrose is well known, but newly re-mastered editions from our Historical catalogue always generate interest. The sonic results with this recital by ‘absolute stars’ (MusicWeb International on 8120607) producer David Lennick and restorer Graham Newton makes this the new standard bearer for these legendary recordings. This release joins volume one on 8111382 to make an eminently collectable pair.

Maxim Rysanov completes his survey of all Brahms’s chamber works to feature the viola.

On this companion CD to ONYX4033 he is joined by Alice Coote and Ashley Wass in the Two Songs op.91, and takes the solo viola part – the clarinet role – in the op.115 Quintet.

Richard Mühlfeld, the clarinettist for whom Brahms wrote his two sonatas and the quintet, managed to coax Brahms out of self-imposed retirement, and the result is the wonderful Indian summer of late chamber works. Joseph Joachim remarked that the clarinet parts would work well transcribed for viola. Brahms lavished much care on these arrangements, and they have entered the repertoire for the viola, in contrast to the transcriptions of the clarinet sonatas for violin, which remain virtually unperformed.

There may also have been a commercial motive in making such adaptations: the wider the market for chamber music, the more money the publisher and composer would receive. Either way, these transcriptions are valuable additions to the repertoire of the viola.

Maxim Rysanov performed at the 2010 BBC Proms, including the Last Night.

This anniversary collection by Jeunesses Musicales marks 60 years of service to the young: 60 years of excellence. The compilation presents some of the best recordings made at ANALEKTA by artists who toured under the aegis of JMC or have been associated with the Montreal International Musical Competition, founded in 2002. Discover some of the great performers of the Canadian music scene.

At the 1987 Salzburg Festival recital the Slovenian mezzo Marjana Lipovšek concentrated on 19th-century works, straying only for her encores, with an impressive range of vocal colour and languages. Her pianist was Elisabeth Leonskaja, an accompanist entirely her equal. Their encores comprised Strauss's Die Nacht, another song by Brahms, an adaptation of a Slovenian folksong by the singer's father, Marijan Lipovšek, and, finally, Schubert's setting of Hölty's Seligkeit - a suitable description of the atmosphere that had developed between artists and audience over the course of the evening. It is an atmosphere that comes across in this live recording, the vitality of which is further underlined by Marjana Lipovšek's lively introductions to her encores.