A Musical Conversation, San Francisco Classical Voice, January 15, 2008.
I left out a couple of things I'd meant to note: the beautiful viola solo in the Smetana, played by Masumi Per Rostad, and the fact that in a review a couple of years ago, Michelle Dulak Thomson commented on some of the issues I raise. I agree with her about Rostad's tone and wish I could describe it accurately. Some violists - some great violists - have a bit of edge in their tone that I find very attractive. Rostad doesn't, and his tone is equally attractive.
I have the Pacifica's recording of Janàcek 2nd, Hindemith 4th, and (following a tip from "The Rest is Noise") Ruth Crawford Seeger which is a really good piece; a cellist friend says it's humongously difficult, but they seem to sail through it. Good playing.
ReplyDeleteGreat programming on that recording!
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