Igor Stravinsky's Elegy for solo viola was written in 1944 at the request of Germain Prévost, violist in the Pro Arte Quartet, in memory of the quartet's founder, Alphonse Onnou.
Composer Biography
Anton Rubinstein, a composer and pianist, began composing at age 12, but achieved world fame primarily as a pianist.
Composer Biography
Mikhail Glinka, considered "the father of Russian music," was a very young man when he composed the first movement of his Viola Sonata in 1825, lacking large-scale musical experience.
Composition History
Dmitri Shostakovich's Viola Sonata, his last completed work, was written for and dedicated to violist Fyodor Druzhinin, who played viola pieces for the composer in Spring 1975.
Composition History
Anton Rubinstein composed his Three Salon Pieces, including the Nocturne on this disc, at the start of his 1854 concert tour to launch himself as a composer.
Performer Biography
Nobuko Imai is the only violist to have won the highest prizes at both the Munich and Geneva International Viola Competitions.
Composer Biography
Alexander Glazunov, like Anton Rubinstein, visited Franz Liszt, a Hungarian composer and virtuoso pianist, in Weimar and dedicated his second symphony and an Elegy for cello and piano to him.
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