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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Roger Chase plays Bax, Vaughan Williams, Theodore Holland & Richard HarveyRecorded: The Colosseum, Town Hall, Watford, 16-18 April 2012
In his third programme for Dutton Epoch, the celebrated viola player Roger Chase again presents repertoire associated with the great Lionel Tertis, played on Tertis’s own Montagnana viola. The Bax Phantasy for viola and orchestra is the highlight, and it proves to be a lyrical delight, the slow movement based on a particularly enticing Irish folk song. Vaughan Williams’s lyrical eight-movement Suite for Viola and Orchestra, too, has elements of folksong, this time English, and is virtuosic and catchy by turns. Theodore Holland was a friend of Bax at the Royal Academy of Music, later the composition teacher of John Joubert. A remarkable discovery, his substantial tone poem Ellingham Marshes is a wartime musical picture of the dreamy and wistful atmosphere of the Suffolk marshes in their changing moods. The programme is completed by Richard Harvey’s Reflections, a four-movement score in today’s most approachable idiom. “Chase conjures the most gorgeous tone from the Montagnana viola that once belonged to Lionel Tertis...and his alliance with Stephen Bell and the BBC CO radiates such joy, lyrical ardour and freshness of new discovery as to make me fall in love all over again with what is arguably Bax's most nationalistic statement” Gramophone Magazine, April 2013 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vaughan Williams/McEwen: Flos Campi & Viola Concerto
Lawrence Power has established himself as the most sought-after violist of his generation and his sumptuous tone and persuasive interpretations have lead to many comparisons with the pioneering British violist Lionel Tertis. Indeed, the three works on this disc were written for Tertis, who did so much to broaden the instrument’s musical repertoire and raise its status to an accepted solo instrument. The two Vaughan Williams works display an unabashed romanticism and pastoral elegance. Flos Campi, meaning ‘Flower of the field’, was completed in 1925 and puzzled audiences with its ambiguous form and unusual orchestration. Despite the prominent solo viola and wordless chorus, it is neither a concerto nor a choral work. The seamless viola line moves in unity with the orchestra and the chorus appears as a body of instruments, creating an effect of mesmerizing beauty and calm. The little-performed Suite for viola and small orchestra was written ten years later and contains some of the composer’s most lyrical inventions. The lush orchestration and memorable themes in Sir John McEwen’s 1901 concerto expose this large-scale work as a neglected gem of the viola repertoire and Power’s performance is sure to set a new benchmark. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under the expert and unfailingly sensitive guidance of Martyn Brabbins, provides expert backing throughout. “Lawrence is the perfect advocate for both [Vaughan Williams] works, with his rich, warm, sensuous tone and flamboyant virtuosity. His playing is just as persuasive in the Viola Concerto of the Scot John McEwan...This is easy-going late-Romantic music, with several nods to Brahms..the disc is unmissable for [Power's] immaculate VW” Sunday Times, 6th November 2011 “Lawrence Power, using an Italian viola made in 1610, plays with a tone as dark as a cello, and a technique as agile as a violinist's: the ideal combination. The largely neglected Scottish composer John Blackwood McEwen wrote his ambitious viola concerto in 1901 – a lyrical, almost Brahmsian work worth discovering...decidedly a favourite of 2011.” The Observer, 13th November 2011 “John McEwen’s Viola Concerto is a warm-hearted piece played with commitment by Power, while the two works by Vaughan Williams bring out the viola’s tender melancholy.” The Telegraph, 11th November 2011 *** “[Power's] every phrase pulsates with an inner glow. He also captures unerringly the sense of mystery and veiled threat that haunts the unforgettable Flos Campi...The McEwen Concerto is a three-movement barnstormer in the Bruch tradition, which Power plays with a majestic virtuosity that fires on all cylinders.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2012 ***** “Power makes a strong case for [the Suite], investing in it playing of great power, focus and warmth...[Flos Campi] has not been better recorded than here.” Classical Music, 19th November 2011 **** “Power's playing is wonderfully varied, at times delicate and poetical, at others broad, passionate and generous. This is especially so in the case of the two works by Vaughan Williams...This is a must-have for all lovers of Vaughan Williams and British music in general!” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | English Music for Viola and Piano
Christian Euler (viola) & Paul Rivinius (piano) English Music for Viola and piano is a disc comprised of: Arnold Bax, Sonata / Arthur Bliss, Sonata and Ralph Vaughan Williams, Suite. Lionel Tertis is regarded as “the father of the viola.” Although he was not its inventor, he wasthe first musician to perform internationally as a soloist on this marvelously multifaceted instrument and to inspire leading composers to produce music for it. While retracing his path, the viola player on this recording, Christian Euler chanced on three English compositions by Bliss, Bax, and Vaughan Williams. With delight, he presents these rediscoveries with the critically acclaimed pianist Paul Rivinius. The works could not be more different and display the viola’s overwhelming potential in all its great breadth. | 
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“Callus possesses an enviably rich tone, heard to full advantage” The Sunday Telegraph “Callus has a wonderfully smoky tone and a fine rhetorical flair, and combines brilliance with intensity. In the finale, though she broadens the tempo for the sweeping lyrical second theme much more than Walton directs, weakening he impact of the coda.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 “Helen Callus, British-born but based in America, plays with sumptuous tone matched by flawless intonation to give the most beautiful account I have ever heard of the Walton Concerto. She brings out the warmth of Walton's lyricism, one memorable theme after another, and finds a rare mystery in the pianissimo passages, above all in the haunting epilogue. Marc Taddei draws playing from the New Zealand orchestra that is warm in the lyricism and incisive in Walton's characteristic syncopations. ...a most beautiful account of the Howells Elegy, orchestra members making up the string quartet set against the solo viola.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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Frederick Riddle (viola), Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Janet Hilton (clarinet), Keith Swallow (piano) Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, Huddersfield Choral Society, BBC Philharmonic, Norman Del Mar, George Hurst, Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Sir Neville Marriner | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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