Founded in 1995 by Rainer Kussmaul, Raimar Orlovsky and other members of the Berlin Philharmonic as an ensemble specialised in music of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Berliner Barock Solisten is a crack ensemble that has previously recorded the Brandenburg Concertos. The soloists in this recording are from teh Berliner Philarmoniker, including Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic.
So how come there is a Clarinet Concerto? (some might say the clarinet concerto!). Diyang Mei has made his own version for viola and ensemble. It’s an experiment, and a partially successful one. Not as forthright as he clarinet, but Mei’s agility is miraculous:
It is the slow movement that offers the real enlightening change: the viola’s timbre is like hearing this “aria” (for such it is, just in instrumental garb) sung by a different voice. The sense of chamber music with the Berliner Barock Solisten is remarkable – one can instantly tell these musicians play together on a near-daily basis, And what s superb cadenza Mei inserts, too:
By using reduced strings, the opening of the finale almost sounds like a Viola Quintet, which allows for a little extra elasticity of tempo for Mei. There are other moments of revelation as lines mere with a different timbal “accent”. And just as the clarinet has that lower register (the chalumeau register, which we referenced just recent in music by Fasch), so the viola brings its own vey special timbre to its lower reaches:
It is interesting that another viola member of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Amihai Grosz (also a founding member of the Jerusalem String Quartet) was the soloist in performances of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for violin and Viola when I accompanied the Greater BayYouth Orchestra around China and Hong Kong recently (see my article in Classical Music magazine).
Here it is Mei, along with Noah Bendix-Balgley, one of the BPO’s leaders and a noted soloist in his own right. The dialogue between soloist is delicious, and the orchestra’s lightness is perfect. And for once, the cadenza is a joy:
There are some darker shades in this slow movement than in K622, and they are beautifully highlighted ere without a race of smudging from the orchestra. I remember the interruptive moment around seven minutes in as being more dramatically significant with the Greater Bay orchestra performances; here it feels just slightly underplayed:
The finale, though, is joy itself:
A fascinating, rewarding disc. The “Viola Concerto” is a genuinely enlightening idea.
This recording can be found on Amazon here.
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