Description

Cesar Franck: Sonata in A Major (Arranged for Viola by B. Zaslav); Darius Milhaud: Sonata No.2 for Viola and Piano; “La Bruxelloise” from “Quatre Visages”; Antonín Dvorák: Op.2 ~ Four Songs (Orig. Soprano/Piano) (Arranged by B. Zaslav); Ernest Bloch: Meditation & Processional; Suite for Viola Solo (Unfinished); Milton Babbitt: Composition for Viola & Piano (1950). The Zaslav Duo (Bernard Zaslav: Viola and Naomi Zaslav: Piano). Total time: 72:22 (ADD/DDD) UPC # 0-17685-11512-7.

Sound Clips (MP3):

1. Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8- Allegro appassionato

2. Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8- Allegro

3. Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8- Recitative-Fantasia (ben moderato)

4. Sonata for violin & piano in A major, M. 8- Allegretto poco mosso

5. Sonata for viola & piano No. 2, Op. 244- Champêtre

6. Sonata for viola & piano No. 2, Op. 244- Dramatique

7. Sonata for viola & piano No. 2, Op. 244- Rude

8. Visages (4), for viola & piano, Op. 238- La Bruxelloise

9. Dvorak Op. 2, Four Songs – 1. Moderato, Go Forth, My Song, Delay Not

11. Dvorak Op. 2, Four Songs – 3. Andante

12. Dvorak Op. 2, Four Songs – 4. Rest In The Valley’

13. Bloch Meditation & Processional For Viola & Piano

14. Bloch Suite For Viola Solo (Unfinished)

15. Babbitt- Composition For Viola & Piano (1950)

BUZZ: Composed between 1886 and 1958, these viola works range from the familiar (Franck, Dvorak) to the rare and unusual (Milhaud, Bloch, Babbitt). Since their Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1962, the Zaslav Duo have attained a high level of recognition for both concerts and recordings of the viola/piano repertory. Bernard Zaslav has performed worldwide as viola soloist and member of the Kohon, the Composers, the Fine Arts, the Vermeer and the Stanford String Quartets. His current discography includes 114 works of chamber music. Naomi Zaslav, a pupil of Rosina Lhevinne at the Juilliard Graduate School, has appeared widely both as piano soloist and chamber music artist.

“Violists have to hear this…it’s the best performance of Milhaud’s second viola sonata that I’m likely ever to hear.”

-Michelle Dulak Thomson, American Record Guide/San Francisco Classical Voice

“Due to the plaintive beauty of his [Zaslav’s] tone, this approach achieves about as great a success as the premise will allow. Bernard Zaslav sounds like a violist, and nothing else-an effect that not every violist or violinist/violist manqué achieves. In a most sympathetic partnership with Naomi Zaslav, who, like her husband, adapts well to the full range of the styles represented on the program, from Dvorák’s warmth to Babbitt’s angularity, his stylistic penetration reveals itself to great advantage. Strongly recommended.”

-Robert Maxham, Fanfare

“This is a lively but tender interpretation of the Franck…The Dvorak transcriptions are nothing if not pleasant, and it is good to hear Ernest Bloch’s work.”

-David W. Moore, American Record Guide