Viola shines with its own music

By TARA WERNER

SCHOOL OF MUSIC, Auckland - Mozart adored it and often played it in string quartets alongside Haydn or Dittersdorf. The instrument is the cornerstone of the string quartet and vital in the string section of the orchestra.

Its warm and vibrant tone fills in the alto or tenor role so necessary for balance. So why has so little solo music been written for the viola?

In this concert by visiting Hungarian violist Csaba Erdelyi and pianist Tamas Vesmas on Saturday night, of the five works performed, four were arrangements of works originally meant for other instruments.

The opening work, the Scherzo from the FAE violin sonata by Brahms, was a little unbalanced, with the piano dominating.

In the Sonata Op 120 - clarinet music adapted for viola by Brahms - this aspect was rectified, with the Bach-like allegro appassionato played with serene elegance.

Schubert's Sonata D821 for the little-known arpeggione, a cross between cello and guitar, was a gentle bit of filigree in this context but affectionately performed.

While there was nothing wrong with such arrangements, the true power and beauty of the viola only really found its voice in the work specifically written for it.

Shostakovich's Sonata for Viola and Piano Op 147, completed weeks before the composer died, had all the hallmarks of the private side of his personality - a biting black humour, often hiding deep anguish.

The sly use of a 12-tone row in the opening movement, written after the composer was forced to denounce serialism publicly as an "evil influence in composition," showed his ability to subtly subvert the political orthodoxy of his time.

The long finale with its clear references to Beethoven became almost unbearably intense.

Even the exuberant Rumanian folk music adapted by Bartok, the Rhapsody No 1, did not dispel the lingering intensity of Shostakovich's final chamber masterpiece.