I did not know who Tatjana Masurenko was before I listened to this album, but I am not likely to forget her. This is magnificent playing. Especially the highlight, the wonderful concerto of William Walton, all of 26 when he fashioned this terrific work, full of “modern” tendencies while remaining in the emotional provenance of the romantics. It is a beast to play, especially the demonic second movement, and has remained a true test of viola wannabes for years. Tatjana Masurenko plays it with a finely-honed sensibility to the works’ pitfalls, not blasting through any of it for virtuosity’s sake, but always keeping the needs of the music first in her mind. Comparing with Maxim Vengerov’s white hot version (with Rostropovich on EMI), one comes away with the sense that that violinist doesn’t really know how to play the instrument. His treatment is rather brutal and harsh sounding in many passages, drawing a coarse, Slavic ruggedness out of the viola at the expense of cleanliness and elegance.
Sally Beamish is a composer known to me for a long time, though I was yet to hear her music. Hers is more the modernist muse, accessible and certainly well-crafted, though it does not beat you up with memorable melodies or anything as pedantic as that! Nonetheless, this is a serious piece written to strangely depict the denial of Christ by the Apostle Peter, though you would never know it without the program. I like it, biblical connotations notwithstanding, and Beamish’s own experience as Principal Viola in the London Mozart Players and Scottish Chamber Orchestra serve her well in the idiomatic construction of the piece.
Britten’s Lachrymae – Reflections on a Song by Dowland, one of those do-the-variations-first-and-state-the-theme-last pieces of his, displays the consummate craftsmanship that makes Britten perhaps the greatest composer of variations since Brahms. The work is for viola and string orchestra (1976), revised late by the composer, the viola and piano original having been competed in 1950.
This is an outstanding release. The orchestra work is first-rate, and Coviello has been taking some pains to ensure the best SACD sound it can. Here I notice most of the signal is directed at the normal R-L channels, with a little ambiance in the rear and a smaller signal in the middle. Often the middle signal is too strong, and tends to dominate, but I like what they have done here. If the program appeals, don’t hesitate.
— Steven Ritter
