None of these pieces were composed for viola. Nonetheless, at least two of them either were recomposed for the instrument or had the composer’s approbation to use the instrument as a substitute. Such a little thing as instrumentation evidently is not going to get in the way of violist Vidor Nagy, who has elected to use the substitute in what is a remarkably fine recording. 

The Brahms is of course his famous Clarinet Trio, one of the Richard Mühlfeld inspired pieces of the late years. But we do know that Brahms himself actually played the viola version with Joseph Joachim, though despite the fact that Brahms reworked the two clarinet sonatas for the instrument, he had his copyist do it for the trio. The case of the Beethoven is somewhat different. This work is originally his Sextet for two horns and string quartet. In this case, almost concurrently with the completion of the work, he scored it for the forces on this recording. Beethoven wrote this at the young age of 25, during his second residency in Vienna. Mozart, whom he had hoped to study with, had died since he last set foot in the city, and Haydn was the composer of choice, though there is some question as to how good a teacher the old man was. The work is a joyous one, and listening to the viola account one almost gets the feeling that this was the preferred version—it was certainly the more popular, and went into a second printing. Beethoven was a master at viola-writing, to which his five string trios, and the many quartets and quintets testify. 

Moving on to Zemlinsky, we enter another world. Unlike the two previous compositions, this one has no composer approval for its replacement of the clarinet by viola. Nevertheless, considering the rich palate of colors that the man’s harmonic effulgence consisted, it seems a natural choice that fits in very well with the composer’s overall chocolaty and burnished textures. The piece was written in 1896, and the young composer met Brahms that same year, who is said to have been effusive in his praise for his junior colleague, “talent emerging everywhere.” Zemlinsky took a chance by entering this trio into a competition anonymously, with Brahms on the jury, and he won. His trio, only five years separated from that of Brahms, breathes the same air with perhaps a slightly different flavoring, Zemlinsky being more concerned with developmental variations and a great deal of polyphony. It certainly portends the music that was to follow from his hand later. 

This is a brilliant recording with superb playing from all involved. They have zoomed in on the foundation aspects of each work and are able to present them in a manner that is consistent with each composer’s sound world. Sound is top notch and the performances excellent. This is a nice release that not only fills a gap but provides much pleasure as well. 

FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter