JAVS Fall 2012

rather than the real thing, but very enjoyable on its own terms, and of course tailor-made for the viola. Kimber’s frequent excursions into the instrument’s highest register are beautifully mastered by Taylor, who also enjoys playing at playing the guitar in a plucked cadenza half-way through. Indeed, Taylor’s dark, beautifully expressive tone is a constant joy throughout the recording. It was by chance that these Night Strings were heard in a late-night listen ing session, but all the more enjoyable they were for it! Saltarello . Music by Purcell, Dowland, Vivaldi, Knox, Saariaho, Hildegard von Bingen, Machaut, and Anon. Garth Knox, viola, viola d’amore, medieval fiddle; Agnès Vesterman, cello; Sylvain Lemêtre, percussion. EMC New Series 2157. In this fascinating recording, the ever-enterprising Garth Knox has brought together music spanning a millennium, from Hildegard von Bingen in the eleventh century to Kaija Saariaho and Knox him self in the twenty-first. The CD begins and ends with Celtic music performed on viola d’amore and medieval fiddle, variously accompanied by cello and percussion in highly colorful combinations. Knox’s own Fuga libre for unaccompanied viola receives a definitive reading, its polyphony wonder fully laid out and the tremolo and harmonics of the middle section crystal clear. Kaija Saariaho’s Vent nocturne is dedicated to Knox; in its two move ments the viola’s sounds are electronically processed and combined with haunting sound effects sugges tive of the arctic landscapes in the composer’s native Finland. In Knox’s imaginative arrangement, Purcell’s Music for a While becomes a viola d’amore solo with the cello in charge of the ostinato bass; conversely, Dowland’s Flow My Tears is played as a cello solo with accompanying viola d’amore, with the latter instrument taking over for semi-impro vised interludes. Vivaldi’s D-minor Concerto, RV 393, stripped to its bare bones, is played in a mini malistic version for just viola d’amore and cello, and I can’t say I miss anything essential! With no orchestra to make allowances for, Knox has maxi mum freedom to embellish his line, including a stylish cadenza that joins the last two movements.

Medieval music, both sacred and profane, com pletes the program. An intriguing “medley” joins across the centuries Hildegard von Bingen’s Marian hymn Ave generosa with Guillaume de Machaut’s courtly song, Who Laughs in the Morning, Will Cry in the Evening . The former is played “a cappella,” so to speak, on unaccompanied medieval fiddle, with the time jolt for the latter’s somber musings marked by the percussion’s entry. Another medieval group includes two Saltarellos framing an Estampie in the CD’s toe-tapping “title track.” Knox’s enthu siastic written comments complete a most reward ing issue, beautifully produced to ECM’s exacting standards. Joseph Martin Kraus: Viola Concertos . David Aaron Carpenter, viola; Tapiola Sinfonietta. Ondine ODE 1193-2. As Shakespeare might have put it: What’s in a name? That which we call a Hoffstetter viola con certo by any other name would sound as sweet. Or maybe it wouldn’t. These three concertos have been readily available in print for decades, albeit under the name of Roman Hoffstetter, an Austrian Benedictine monk. However, none of them has— to my knowledge—been previously recorded (at least, neither the New york Viola Society’s online database nor François de Beaumont’s Discographie sur l’alto list any relevant recording). It has taken the recent reattribution—based on source studies and stylistic analysis—to Joseph Martin Kraus, Mozart’s exact contemporary and Court Composer to the Swedish King Gustavus III, to rekindle interest in these utterly charming compositions. As Kraus scholar Bertil van Boer reveals in the fasci nating liner notes, Kraus was himself a viola player, and indeed these pieces show a profound, hands-on knowledge of the instrument. As in most concertos from this period, the viola’s uppermost range is thoroughly exploited, with quite intricate passage work, bariolage, and double-stopping. David Aaron Carpenter plays this music with unshakeable aplomb and a beautiful sound that retains its quali ty even in the A string’s highest ranges. He is enthusiastically supported by the conductor-less Tapiola Sinfonietta, which makes much of Kraus’s

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