Venture on the viola…

Pictured left is, as if he needs any introduction, a rather special string player. Yuri Bashmet’s live recordings of the Brahms Clarinet/Viola Sonatas have prompted me and I am sure thousands of others to approach these glorious jewels of the viola repertoire. As I was indoctrinated from an early age by my flautist father with a steady stream of light-hearted anti-viola jokes it feels like a compulsion to attempt something funny concerning the meagre repertoire, their maligned reputation in the orchestral hierarchy or some-such. However, it is to be resisted as these masterpieces need playing and ideally with as much of Bashmet’s flair, urgency and unique nuancing as is possible. These Spotify wonders are also live thank goodness so…hear things live, record them so and we’ll all exist in a more invigorating, vital musical world. Amen.