Word: violas
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...played viola in the Minneapolis Symphony-now the Minnesota Orchestra-for six years. The first year I was disturbed by the indifference and cynicism of my older colleagues; after six years I was as bitter and negative as any of them...
Hindemith was also a professional viola soloist and gave the work's premiere, later recording the piece with Arthur Fiedler after he emigrated to America. The performance by Thompson and the M.I.T. forces is perfectly acceptable, but there is no reason to prefer it since the work is currently available in four other performances with professional orchestras...
...Frank Martin (1890-1974), makes this disk welcome. Bloch's oeuvre contains about a dozen works of avowedly Jewish flavor, the most famous being the Schelomo rhapsody for cello and orchestra (1915). The last of the Jewish works was a set of five Pieces Hebraiques (1951), for viola and piano, three of which Bloch orchestrated the next year under the title Suite Hebraique. The Thompson disk is the only current recording with the revised scoring. Though not from Bloch's top drawer, the work still stands solid and serious; and Thompson gives it a full-throated expressiveness...
...underappreciated Martin is represented by his Sonata da Chiesa (1938) for viola d'amore and organ. The composer authorized the use of a flute instead of viola, and later scored the keyboard part for string orchestra. A Musical Heritage recording of the flute-and-organ option features Jean-Pierre Rampal and Marie-Claire Alain. But the flute cannot execute the double stops and many other subtleties possible on the viola d'amore, a little-used instrument with more strings than the normal viola. In this piece Martin fused serial and tonal procedures skillfully, and Thompson's interpretation particularly emphasizes...
...disk entitled "Computer Generations," Thompson performs a work expressly written for him, Synapse for Viola and Computer (1976) by Barry Vercoe (b. 1937), who established M.I.T.'s electronic music studio nine years ago. Thompson brings a needed touch of humanity to a cerebral work that, though serially organized, lacks sufficient aural unity...