La Viola
Minna KEAL (1909-1999)
Ballade in F minor (1929) [11:07]
Marcelle SOULAGE (1894-1970)
Sonata for Solo Viola Op.43 (1930) [22:04]
Fernande DECRUCK (1896-1954)
Viola Sonata (1943) [16:23]
Luise Adolpha LE BEAU (1850-1927)
Three Pieces for viola and piano Op.26 (1881) [10:53]
Pamela HARRISON (1915-1990)
Viola Sonata (1946) [22:57]
Lament for viola and piano (pub. 1963) [4:54]
Lillian FUCHS (1901-1995)
Sonata Pastorale for unaccompanied viola (1953) [11:25]
Rebecca CLARKE (1886-1979)
Viola Sonata (1919) [24:00]
Hillary Herndon (viola)
Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo (piano)
rec. November 2010, Krannert Center for Performing Arts, Urbana, Illinois:
April 2011 and March 2012 at Sweet Briar College Chapel, Virginia
MSR CLASSICS MS1416 [60:29 + 63:17]
‘La Viola’ takes as its focus music for
that instrument composed by seven women composers. Whether that is seen
as a programming cul-de-sac, or not, is a question I’d best avoid,
instead concentrating on the quality of the compositions themselves,
which is high.
The most important piece here is Rebecca Clarke’s 1919 Viola Sonata,
which has fortunately long entered the active repertory, as opposed
to merely the recorded discography. She was a talented violist herself
- indeed her sole recording as an instrumentalist has been transferred
to CD from 78 - but this sonata was also performed by her slightly older
British colleague, Lionel Tertis, though he negligently made no reference
to her or the sonata in the first edition of his autobiography. American
violist Hillary Herndon and pianist Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo approach
it with due appreciation of its stature. Theirs is a fine performance,
but in the final resort Herndon lacks Tabea Zimmermann’s tonal
breadth [Myrios Classics MYR004] and something of Garfield Jackson’s
folkloric nuance [ASV CD DCA932]. Also, Barbara Westphal and Jeffrey
Swann [Bridge 9109] make the sonata’s first movement flow just
that bit more convincingly - something that Philip Dukes sadly failed
to do in his sub-par Naxos recording [8.557934].
Another British composer represented is Minna Keal, whose late rediscovery
was so heartening. Her Ballade dates from 1929 and sits securely
in an expressive late-romantic niche. Tertis apparently approved of
it. Pamela Harrison studied under Arthur Benjamin and Gordon Jacob and
later married the fine cellist Harvey Phillips. Her 1946 Sonata is something
of a discovery: most fluently constructed with an attractive undertow
of melancholy. Each of the four movements is strongly characterised,
whether droll or lyrical. It’s no surprise that the early history
of the sonata was bound up with two such fine players as Watson Forbes
and Jean Stewart. Harrison’s Lament was published in 1963,
and is quietly effective if not wholly distinctive.
Marcelle Soulage wrote her Sonata in 1930 and its teasingly improvisational
quality is a animating feature of the first movement. Neo-classicism
but also haunting songfulness haunts the remainder of the work. The
Sonata by Fernande Decruck was composed in 1943 and dedicated to the
famous saxophone player Marcel Mule - because the work was written ‘for
alto saxophone (or viola)’. Brilliantly written, the most personal
moments come in the third movement, a Fileuse whose Debussian
lineage is clear. Yet there is a rather Ravelian Nocturne et Rondel
with which to conclude and the bell peals with the work ends leave one
with a degree of ambiguity: a hope for victory?
Of a much older vintage is Luise Adolpha La Beau’s Three Pieces
of 1881. These are attractive character pieces and certainly don’t
outstay their welcome in any way. I wish that greater tonal variance
had been deployed in the Nachtstück, the first of the three.
Lillian Fuchs was, like Rebecca Clarke, a first-class violist. Her unaccompanied
Sonata Pastorale (1953) is structured in two movements and proves
technically accomplished indeed, though somewhat less personalised than
I was perhaps expecting.
This excellently chosen two CD selection will make an obvious appeal
to the collector. As hinted, sometimes Herndon’s tone, at least
as captured by this recording, can be a touch nasal and lack breadth
and depth of tone. That doesn’t limit admiration for her, and
Lo’s performances.
Jonathan Woolf
