L'aube

Bratsche! It’s not often that the German word for ‘viola’ comes with an exclamation mark attached, but the cover of Antoine Tamestit’s new release heralds something worth celebrating. Among the latest of the new star violists to record Hindemith, Tamestit brings his wonderful musical intelligence to bear on some of the greatest music written for the instrument. Tamestit has selected four contrasting works that reflect that composer’s expressive range: one of the solo sonatas, one of the sonatas with piano, and two very different works for viola and orchestra.

Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler has come to be regarded as a modern parable about the plight of the artist in the midst of social unrest and political restrictions. In Mathis der Maler, Hindemith violated some of the principles of music composition that the Nazi regime had already legislated for the Reich and thus, by extension, set himself up for the same kind of criticism as the protagonist of the work. Not a roman a clef or any sort of thinly disguised autobiography, the opera serves a dual purpose in portraying the story found in the libretto and also in serving as a kind of socio-political commentary that would not be lost on the censors.

—Opera Today

“Playing the viola means making it sing – making myself sing” declares Gérard Caussé, who makes this instrument, with its special voice – deep, nostalgic and melancholy – sing like no one else does. This box set, which brings together an incredibly wide repertoire, bears witness to the remarkable career that has made Caussé a viola legend. The French violist Gérard Caussé is a world renowned maestro of his instrument. Internationally acclaimed, he performs as soloist, chamber musician and with orchestra. A professor of the viola class at the Conservatoire de Paris, Caussé has helped to enrich the viola repertoire by inspiring contemporary composers: Henri Dutilleux, Wolfgang Rihm, Betsy Jolas… among others. 2018 marks Caussé’s 70th birthday. This box highlights the wide range of the viola repertoire he recorded from 1979 to 2010 surrounded by first class artists.