Viola fanciers (and anyone who loves listening to great music) rejoice! Here is a fantastic recording of Viola music by Paul Chihara including the wondrous Viola Concerto. It's a work that imho should be in the Viola repertoire the world over. The same can be said for the Viola Sonata, it's pure joy from start to finish and one of the finest ways I can think of to spend (just under 12) minutes. I hate to sound selfish but it is all so very well written that I'd like another 12 minutes. After much thought I came up with a magical solution; it's called play-and-repeat. It works like a charm, should you too feel so compelled ;)
"Redwood" for Viola and Percussion is one of my favorite Chihara works and the "Concerto Piccolo" for four Violas is quite 'piccolo' indeed at only 7+ minutes, however it's entirely successful; compact with fanciful and energetic moments that last until the 4th movement "Aka Tombo" (Red Dragonfly) which has slower, eerie harmonies based on a Japanese folksong of the same name. The disc concludes with a nice bonus, an eight-minute Q&A style conversation between composer Paul Chihara and founder of Bridge Records, David Starobin.
This post shall be continued later today. It's just become Thursday, a long Wednesday is *finally* and happily fading over here..
Enjoy everyone!
Paul_Chihara-Viola_Concerto_Viola_Works-Tzadik.zip
http://www34.zippyshare.com/v/5vQNDplr/file.html
