COMPOSERS: Bruch
LABELS: Erato
WORKS: Concerto for Clarinet & Viola; Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola & Piano; Romance for Viola & Orchestra
PERFORMER: Gérard Caussé (viola), Paul Meyer (clarinet), François-René Duchable (piano)Lyon Opera Orchestra/Kent Nagano
CATALOGUE NO: 2292-45483-2
For two consecutive years listeners to Classic FM have voted Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto their favourite among 300 classical works. His melodies have instant appeal and it is good to see three comparative rarities on this disc. Bruch loved alto-register instruments such as the clarinet and viola, and he wrote these works in 1911 when giant leaps were taking place in the development of music, all of which he eschewed in favour of mid-19th-century Romanticism. While the clarinet rides orchestral accompaniment with no difficulty, the viola sits right in the middle and can be drowned (a hazard in performing the Double Concerto but avoided in the recording studio). The viola Romance is a gem, while the Eight Pieces are colourful and varied. All the performers do ample justice to this beautiful and unashamedly Romantic music. Christopher Fifield
Bruch: Concerto for Clarinet & Viola; Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola & Piano; Romance for Viola & Orchestra
For two consecutive years listeners to Classic FM have voted Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto their favourite among 300 classical works. His melodies have instant appeal and it is good to see three comparative rarities on this disc. Bruch loved alto-register instruments such as the clarinet and viola, and he wrote these works in 1911 when giant leaps were taking place in the development of music, all of which he eschewed in favour of mid-19th-century Romanticism.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm