Customer Reviews

A Portrait of the Viola

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is beyond words. The playing is spectacular. Helen Callus sounds like no other viola player I've ever heard. She has a gorgeously rich, warm sound that is breathtaking. Her playing is both incrediby touching and human, as well as seeming to come from the heavens. Robert McDonald (who often plays with Midori and the late Isaac Stern) is phenomenal. Although the focus of the CD is on the viola, there is some virtuosic piano writing especially in the Clarke Sonata and these brilliant passages in the 2nd mvt of the Harrison Sonata.

The music is all great. Extremely listenable. It's all from the 20th-century but it all sounds like Vaughn-Williams or Holst, great, lush English music from the period when they knew how to win over the audience.

Finally, the sound quality is amazing. But you wouldn't expect less from engineer Max Wilcox and the fantastic sound in the Academy of Arts in Manhattan.

I fully recommend this CD!!!

I agree completely with the review above. I am familar with several of these selections, however they sound completely flat compared to these wonderful recording. Tender yet not hesterical. I also had the pleasure of hearing some of this live recently and lived up to the recording and beyond. If you own 1 viola cd this should be it.

This is one fabulous recording. Helen Callus plays with such passion and personality. Her breath and heartbeat seen to inhabit her instrument. I purchased this recording 3 years ago and have not tired of it even after playing it multiple times. From the complexity of the Rebecca Clarke's Sonata, to the deceptively simple and simply beautiful Morpheus, this is one great performance. If you're looking for one recording of the viola, you should check this out. Every violist should own this, too.

A gift for my son-in-law, a middle school orchestra conductor and a viola player. It is a beautifully done CD.