JAVS Summer 1998

88

violin solo to be played or a violin section to be led, he was the man called upon. LAB 136, Historic Studio Recordings, features sonatas by Respighi and Ravel originally recorded for Concert Hall; a concerto by Viotti, with piano accompaniment; and two short pieces by Chopin and Wieniawski. An interesting aspect of the Chopin Nocturne is that it was I who discovered it on an Ameri can Radio Transcription record in a thrift shop and sent it to David Hermann of the Ft. Worth Symphony, who was preparing to send a group of his Shumsky recordings to Biddulph for publication. Hermann received a promise that I was to be given credit in the notes for providing the recording. This never happened and Hermann received the credit. However, I received copies of the above disks from Hermann so I could review them here. 1. SNE LP 529 Brahms: Two Sonatas for viola and piano. Robert Verebes, viola; Dale Bartlett, piano 2. SNE LP 535 Beethoven: Notturno Shostakovits: Sonata for Viola and Piano. Robert Verebes, viola; Dale Bartlett, piano 3. SNE CD 550 Mendelssohn, Martinu, Coulthard sonatas. Robert Verebes, viola; Dale Bartlett, piano 4. SNE CD 546 5. SNE CD 547 (double CD) Hindemith: The Complete Sonatas for Viola. Robert Verebes, viola; Dale Bartlett, piano 6. SNE CD 562 The Solo Viola. Robert Verebes, viola Penderecki: Cadenza Vieuxtemps: Capriccio Stravinsky: Elegie Barnes: Ballade Reger: Suite Hindemith: Sonata Op. 25, No. 1. 7. SNE CD 564 Bach: 3 Gamba Sonatas. Robert Verebes, viola; Mireille Lagace, harpsi chord

The extraordinary playing, with beautiful tone, technique, pitch, and inimitable phras ing, make this a most attractive disk. LAB 137, Historic Broadcast Recordings, features one movement each of the Beethoven and Mendelssohn violin concertos with the Curtis and NBC Symphony Orchestras. We can all bemoan the fact that entire concertos may not be extant. Eleven other short compositions are performed including Benjamin's jamaican Rhumba arranged by Primrose for viola and for Shumsky on the violin. There are over seventy-five minutes of glorious music on each of the two disks. All string players and lovers of the finest string music should heed my strongest recommendation of these COs.

David 0. Brown Brentwood, New York

Bach: Fantasia Cromatica. Transcription for solo viola by Zoltan Kodaly; Robert Verebes, viola 8. SNE CD 569 Classical Sonatas for viola and piano forte. Robert Verebes, viola; Mireille Lagace, pianoforte Hummel

Stamitz Vanhal Dittersdorf

9. SNE CD 580. Robert Verebes, viola; Suzanne Boldin, piano

Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata Schumann: Marchenbilder Vieuxtemps Sonata

10. SNE CD 612 "The Romantic Viola." Robert Verebes, viola; Suzanne Blondin, piano Vieuxtemps: Elegie

Kodaly: Adagio Bruch: Romanze V. Williams: Romance Wieniawski: Reverie Enesco: Concert Piece Bloch: Meditation Processional Suite Hebraique