JAVS Fall 1993

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1 I I ~1 r~rtuP Viola players Cinderella story " SO YOUNG and already a viola player?" Question: "What"'do you do Yr'hen a viola player dies?" Answer: "Move him down one desk." After years being the butt ofjokes like these viola players are com ing back into favour. An outstanding case in point is Tabea Zinlnlernlann, a young Ger man,who has just starred in a series of eve ning chamber-music concerts at the Berlin Art Festival. She has been caJJed "the Kath leen Ferrier of the viola", and her attractive presence on stage is confirmed by her video of the Mozart uSinfonia Concenante" (EMI MVD 99 1)00 3)· Audiences are, however, equally attracted to Miss Zimmermann's passionate playing, and to the particular sound of the instrument she plays. Midway between violin and cello in tone.. the viola perhaps comes the closest among string in struments to the sound of the human voice. Another of the new viola stars is a Rus sian vinuoso, Yuri Bashnlct. He tours the world tackling such extremely dIfficult mu sic as Schnittke's "Viola Concerto" (BMG RD 60446) and Reger's "Viola Suite" (BMG RD 60464). A1r Bashmet is undaunted by the challenge and seems to toss 'this nlusic at the public with a shake of his Paganini length ha i r. The viola \\·3S not ahvays such a glamor ous instrument. For many years it fulfilled a role of discreet but co-operative service to other instrumenb. A great 19205 violist, Paul Hindemith (who\\'asalsoa noted con1 poser), recorded J11:lgnificent vcr~lons of chamber music \'lith his "Hindelr:ith TJ io". They include such \\lorks as Hccth~)vcn'~ "Serenade in on, \\"hcre Hindemlth blends in joyously \vith his colJeagues in the deli cious rustic polka movement (EMI CDH 7 64 2 50 2). An equally great virtuoso, ~1ilton Katin1s, \vas Toscanini's first viola player in New York. He also made such unfor~ettable chanlber-music recordin~s as the S~hube;1 "Quintet" with Pablo Casals (SONY CBS MPK 44853) and duets \vith Eddy Brown (on Appian Records. CDAPR 7016). Both Hinden1ith and KatinlS placed more enlphasis on individual tone of voice , than on glalnorous presentJtion of person ality. It took \\'iII iam Prinlrose, a British vi ola player of great musicianship and star quality, to transform the scene. Primrose (1904-82) began to make recordings in 1935, and some ofhis best are available on CD in a series of historical performances published by Peter Biddulph, a violin maker in Lon don's Hanover Square. ~\

They include performances with the Primrose Quartet, formed by four nlembers of Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra. Primrose himseJfrccalJed: "I suppose there nlight have been a few occasions when a quartet adopted the name of the violist, but it was most unusua1." It is to the credit of Primrose's colleagues that they did not com plain. Their series of recordings of Haydn and Smetana, cut shan by the second world war, are aInong the best ever made by any string quartet (Biddulph LAB 052-53). None theless Primrose is even better renlembered as a soloist and for his breathtaking duos especially with Jascha Heifetz, with whom he recorded Handel's "Passacaglia'~ (BidduJph LAB 074). Is the sudden resurgence of interest in Primrose pan of the increa~ed visibility of such player~ a~ f\,1iss Zilnn1cnnann and 1\1r Ha~hlnet. OJ do thc~c latter-day stars benefit (nun traiJ~ bJ:lzcd by their iJlu~trinu~ prcdc- (c~sor? Probably a bit ofboth--a cross-fertil isation of musical inspiration. Miss Zin1 mermann and Mr Bashmet have both recorded U u1chrynlJe", which Benjamin Britten dedicated to Primrose. The Economist (London) 9 Oct. 1993 -Submitted by Milton Katims, Seattle

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