June 25, 2018

  • Reissue of Classic British Viola Music

     

    British Music for Viola and Orchestra
    Helen Callus, viola.  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Marc Taddei
    Naxos 8.573876
    Total Time:  78:15
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Hellen Callus appeared on the concert music scene over a decade ago with a number of highly acclaimed recordings bringing to light music for viola.  One of these was her exploration of British music for the instrument on an ASV disc (ASV DCA 1181) which has been OOP for a while.  Naxos is now rectifying the situation in this re-issue of the album (without any apparent tampering or remastering).  The ample playing time is just one of the many blessings of this recording of important music for Viola by York Bowen, Herbert Howells, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and William Walton.  The latter two’s works were written originally for Lionel Tertis who rejected the Walton only to reconsider when he heard it performed by Paul Hindemith.  Essentially, the music here all comes from that first quarter century of British composition that explored the island’s rich folk music heritage and marked the beginning of some of the finest music for string orchestras.

    One can hear the folk style in the first three movements from the Suite for Viola and Orchestra (1934) by Vaughan Williams.  (The work consists of eight movements.)  These are all in that wonderful “early” English style of pieces like the Tudor Portraits or the Tallis Fantasy.  The music here flows on in these beautifully long, lyric lines.  Woodwinds provide a gentle color in the opening “Prelude”.  The central “Carol” has an interesting alternating meter with simple writing for strings.  Fuller orchestral forces are added for the folkish final “Christmas Dance”.  While all the music has this folk feel, the melodies here are all original.

    Herbert Howells (1892-1983) is most familiar as a composer of choral music and so his instrumental pieces become even more important to the overall discography.  The devastation of WWI cast its shadow across a lot of British music following the war.  Many composers turned to music to help address their own grief as well as that of the nation’s.  In this Elegy, Op. 15 (1917), Howells paid tribute to fellow viola scholar and composer Francis Purcell Warren who was killed.  The viola opens with a somber statement which grows into this intense explosion of grief from the strings.  Along the way, Howells shifts to just a string quartet in the episodes of reflection and creates an even deeper intimacy.  Most likely, listeners will want to return to this stunning and deeply moving work.

    As mentioned earlier, the great violist Lionel Tertis was the original intended soloist for Walton’s Viola Concerto (1929).  He returned it and Walton turned to composer Paul Hindemith, an equally fine concert violist, for the premiere.  The original orchestration was slightly larger and in 1961 Walton revised this while also adding a harp to the texture.  This is the version recorded here.  The work is in three movements.  A somewhat episodic sonata-allegro structure informs the opening movement.  The solo line has an almost dreamlike feel as if it is glancing backward in time wishing for better days.  From this opening line, Walton spins it slowly out until it gradually gains intensity and we move on into a new idea.  There is also a great orchestral segment in this movement and an equally amazing cadenza.  In the central movement, we are off and running in what is essentially one of Walton’s first scherzo movements.  Here he explores the technical virtuosity of the soloist.  Various themes and ideas are pulled into the final movement, starting with a bassoon statement that is picked up by the viola, which also incorporates a fugue in the midst of everything else.  It is rather interesting to hear these blends of traditional English orchestral writing with sudden bursts of syncopated energy that would become hallmarks of Walton’s style.  Even at its most dissonant it feels less “modern” than other music of its time with its grander orchestral style.  There are several recordings of this work in the catalog of both the original orchestration and the revised one and this recording is certainly among the best.  It really becomes a matter of what other works are paired with it and here Callus has perhaps a more interesting program.

    Perhaps along with the Howells, York Bowen’s (1884-1961) Viola Concerto in c, Op. 25 (1907) will be the second great find on this disc for most listeners.  Bowen and Tertis often performed together and he wrote a couple of sonatas and even a duet for them to perform.  As one might anticipate, this is a work that extends from the Late Romantic tradition with its large orchestra and expanded brass and percussion.  The first movement is in a sonata allegro structure and features some great dramatic and impassioned writing.   Bowen’s lyrical song style is on display in the central movement helping to explore the soloists tone and phrasing.  The final movement then shifts to a display of virtuosity.  At just over a half hour in playing time, this work becomes one of the significant concerti for the instrument even if the first movement feels just a tad overlong.  For this recording, Callus uses her own cadenza in the third movement.

    Many fans of viola music will likely already own the original ASV release.  However, at this reduced price, Naxos has made this album a bargain and a real find to stumble upon.  The music here is all quite engaging with the latter concertos being wonderful opportunities for Callus to display her technical skill.  There is no doubt to her phrasing and warm tone in the slower movements of those concerti, but the Howells really grabs the listener here.  The balance throughout the album works well to place the soloist slightly forward with excellent balance and detail cutting through from the orchestra.  There was not much Naxos had to do but create a colorful cover and reissue one of the finer viola recordings of our time.