JAVS Spring 2019

is enjoying a late bloom as a soloist, documented in a growing number of audio and video recordings of which the set under review (presented in both formats) is the latest. Its caption, which translates as “Spiritual Kinships”, refers to the thread uniting the four composers represented in the program, who knew and appreciated one another, and to their shared cultural link with the present interpreter. The CD and the “bonus” DVD feature the selfsame performances. The pieces by Kurtág and Kodály stem from a concert Nagy played in Cluj, Romania on April 6, 2017, while those by Bartók and Ligeti were filmed later in the same year, without an audience, in a tiny village church at Alsóörs, Hungary. These four pieces could be said to represent twentieth century Hungarian music in the proverbial nutshell. Béla Bartók’s unaccompanied sonata was, of course, originally conceived for the violin. Written in 1944 upon a commission from Yehudi Menuhin, it was to be the last finished piece by the terminally ill composer. Nagy performs it on the viola with no compromises whatsoever, with even the trickiest chords and double stops—several tenths among them—flawlessly in place. Through the viola’s lower register, enhanced by the friendly acoustic, Bartók’s homage to Bach becomes a solemn celebration of string sound. The Hora lungă from György Ligeti’s Sonata showcases the sonorous C string of Nagy’s instrument to most seductive effect. His playing matches Ligeti’s apparently improvisational music— which, of course, is written out down to the smallest detail. György Kurtág’s Jelek (Signs) is an early work by arguably the greatest living Hungarian composer. Its six aphoristic movements—most of them are well under the one-minute mark—include almost as many words of instruction as notes. Nagy realizes them faithfully while managing to make them sound spontaneous. The hour-long recital ends with the Adagio by Zoltán Kodály in Nagy’s arrangement as an unaccompanied piece. The simple, unpretentious melody flows with such heart rending intimacy that one hardly dares to breath for fear of breaking the spell.

In Alto —Bloch: Suite for Viola Solo; Bach (arr. Kodály): Fantasia Cromatica; Penderecki: Tempo di Valse; Bozzi: Der psychophysische Bogen, Mumford: Revisiting Variazioni Elegiache, S. Stravinsky: Suite for Viola Solo, Britten: Suite op. 72. Laura Menegozzo, viola. Stefano Sciascia Production SSP 2019 As with previous recordings by this engaging violist, I was instantaneously drawn in by the intoxicatingly beautiful sounds she draws from her 1699 Carlo Giuseppe Testore instrument. Letting oneself be carried away by the full-bodied double stops in the recurring Canto from Benjamin Britten’s First Suite is bliss indeed! This is the first time I have come across this cello piece in a viola version; the musical text has been transcribed one-to-one, resulting in some very high passages, which—needless to say—are not in the least tonally compromised in Menegozzo’s hands. Her pizzicato playing in the 3 rd movement ( Serenata ) resounds happily, as does the left hand plucking over a sustained open D in the 5 th one ( Bordone ), and she is remarkably agile in the concluding Moto Perpetuo . Menegozzo’s weakness—which may not worry other listeners at all—is a carefree attitude towards agogics that is felt throughout this ambitious recital. Compared to Paul Neubauer’s recording reviewed above, the Baroque dance rhythms hidden in Bloch’s Suite are here harder to pin down, and the rushing arpeggios in Kodály’s Bach transcription sound quite mannered. A more recalcitrant recreation of Baroque style, Soulima Stravinsky’s serial Suite fares better, as it gives the interpreter less leeway for indulgence. Penderecki’s Tempo di Valse —another cello transcription—rounds off Mengozzo’s program alongside two vignettes that explore and extend the viola’s sound world: Jeffrey Mumford doing so in a more adventurous way than the psychologist-cum-composer Paolo Bozzi in his intimidatingly titled The Psychophysical Bow , where Menegozzo’s sharp spiccato is prominently featured. This enterprising recital will be an inspiration to violists seeking rare repertoire, as well as to anyone wishing to indulge in some gorgeously colorful viola sound.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring 2019