The notes to this Sony Classical release by violist Nils Mönkemeyer begin with a humorous complaint that Vivaldi, who wrote concertos for diverse instruments, never wrote any for the viola. Indeed, the album almost seems to consist of two separate programs, the first devoted to transcriptions of Vivaldi and Tartini works for bassoon, violin, and cello, and the second consisting of genuine viola works by Paganini and Alessandro Rolla. Mönkemeyer meets with varying degrees of success, but the program is never dull, and in ...
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The notes to this Sony Classical release by violist Nils Mönkemeyer begin with a humorous complaint that Vivaldi, who wrote concertos for diverse instruments, never wrote any for the viola. Indeed, the album almost seems to consist of two separate programs, the first devoted to transcriptions of Vivaldi and Tartini works for bassoon, violin, and cello, and the second consisting of genuine viola works by Paganini and Alessandro Rolla. Mönkemeyer meets with varying degrees of success, but the program is never dull, and in pieces like the transcription of the cadenza from Vivaldi's Violin Concerto "Il grosso Mogul," RV 208, and in the Sonata per la Grand' Viola e Orchestra of Paganini, he emerges as a formidably virtuosic player. The Vivaldi transcriptions tend to put the viola in the middle of the orchestra's range, and with the rather papery sound of the orchestra L'Arte del mondo, the essential contrast between soloist and orchestra is not quite achieved. Later on, however, there are some finds in the...
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