Eric Coates, a composer featured on this album, spent seven years as principal violist with the Queen's Hall Orchestra before becoming known for light orchestral music.
Composition History
York Bowen's "Phantasy for viola and piano" (Op. 54) was composed in 1918, six months before the end of the Great War, and won first prize in Walter Willson Cobbett's annual chamber music 'Phantasy' competition.
Album & Artwork
This album, titled "British Rhapsody," features music for viola and piano by British composers Bowen, Coates, Delius, Richardson, and Samuel.
Composition History
Frederick Delius's Violin Sonata No. 2, featured on this album, was one of the last pieces he completed before his sight failed due to syphilitic infection in the 1920s.
Composition History
Eric Coates's "First Meeting (Souvenir)" was composed in late 1941 at the request of his former viola teacher, Lionel Tertis, to celebrate Tertis's fiftieth anniversary as a viola player.
Notable Performances
Lionel Tertis, an esteemed violist and champion of the instrument, arranged Delius's Violin Sonata No. 2 for viola and premiered and recorded this new transcription in 1929.
Composition History
Rhian Samuel's "Blythswood" was composed in 1996 while she was resident in Glaick, a Scottish Highlands village, with each movement evoking the idea of a 'distant view'.
You might also enjoy...
Works for Viola & Piano
Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel (Version for Viola and Piano)
Paul Juon: Chamber Music for Viola
Sephardic Journey
Beecke: Piano Concertos
Florilegium ('Fatale Flame') - Music from 18th Century France
