Search - Bax, Bridge, Coletti :: English Music for Viola

Coletti/Howard, English Music for Viola

John M. Kemp | Trenton, NJ United States | 04/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a beautifully played recital of unfortunately unheard music - the two performers are in such elegant sympathy of phrasing and interpretation. The two Clark pieces are a revelation."

Great CD

violamark | 12/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a player of the viola myself, I rarely call anyone a "great" violist. Well, Paul Coletti reminds us of the days of the great William Primrose, despite a few defects which are rather disappointing.



Firstly he has such a great tone, especially in singing, lyrical passages. He produces a wonderful "viola" sound which so many players fail to attain (a lot play it like the violin and apply playing techniques wrongly, e.g. vibrato and Yuri Bashmet, who who produces a horrible sound). It is a beautiful, natural sound, and in this way he brings glory to the instrument which it greatly needs.



However, I often find when it comes to more virtuosic passages requiring solid power, tone, and volume, Coletti fails to deliver. His faster détaché has quite a poor tone quality - he nearly always skips over fast détaché and fast arpeggio passages with complex string crossings, sometimes even procuding a sul ponticello sound. Basically he doesn't draw enough power out of the instrument when required. But I find this is very common in English/English-trained musicians, it is the weakness of the English School and a strong point of the American.





As for the music: great choice of repertoire. The CD has a great flow between these still(!)-relatively-unknown works, which deserve much more recognition than they have had in the past years.





All in all, this CD truly is a "revelation". I recommend it for fellow violists wishing to explore good viola repertoire, or those who want a great recording. These works will hopefully gain much more recognition in the 21st Century, move to the forefront and help to develop the viola as an instrument of worth and glory."