Maxim Rysanov is a prince among violists. Last year, the Ukrainian carried off the Classic FM Gramophone Young Artist of the Year and his recordings to date range from the quirky (Bach Two Part Inventions with violinist Janine Jansen) to last year's more substantial coupling of Tavener and Kancheli Concertos.
Rysanov's latest offers major 19th century repertoire with two discs of Brahms, including not only the two Sonatas but Brahms' own transcriptions of his Horn and Clarinet Trios and Paul Klengel's version of the G major Violin Sonata.
The two Viola Sonatas, written only four years before Brahms' death, are suffused with the autumnal colours that are so suited to this most mellow of instruments. Yet, despite the achingly beautiful Andante un poco Adagio from the F minor Sonata, all is not soulful resignation. The work's third movement transports us into the most elegant of ballrooms for a graceful waltz.
Rysanov and his pianist Katya Apekisheva work together with a rare sympathy, as does Jacob Katsnelson when he pairs up with the violist for the E flat Sonata.
Both Sonatas reveal the prodigious tonal range that Rysanov draws from his 1780 Guadagnini instrument.
How good to have the Opus 114 Clarinet Trio included in this collection, this work being a generally overlooked companion piece to the more famous Clarinet Quintet. Rysanov is so persuasive here that it is hard to believe its composer might ever have considered a clarinet for the score, particularly impressing, alongside Katsnelson and cellist Kristine Blaumane, in a luminous Adagio.
Violinists may not totally approve of Rysanov and Apekisheva appropriating their G major Violin Sonata, but most would envy the way in which the violist reconciles the work's emotional heft with its architectural span - no mean feat.
Alas, opportunities have been lost, however. With a good 20 minutes still available on the second disc, could we not have had Brahms' Opus 91 Songs for Voice and Viola with a Ruckert setting that would complement the slow movements already on the disc? Or for those hankering for a final lollipop, why not slip in William Primrose's transcription of Wie Melodien Zieht Mir, a real heart-melter?
William Dart
Brahms Viola. Photo / Supplied
