Absolutely Stunning!
06/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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!!!"