CD review: Brahms: Viola Sonatas: Rysanov

Maxim Rysanov's viola playing is a delight. But to bulk out this collection of Brahms's music for the viola to two well-filled discs requires the inclusion of two works better known in other instrumental guises. With the best will in the world, it's hard to imagine that Brahms really considered the viola to be an adequate substitute for the horn in his Op 40 Trio. Superb though Rysanov's contribution is, it can never compensate for the lack of brass timbre. In the Op 78 Violin Sonata, the transposition is marginally more convincing. But it's only when you hear the late works for which Brahms genuinely specified the viola - the two sonatas of Op 120 and the Trio with cello and piano Op 114 (even though, in the scores, the viola has to share all them with the clarinet) - that you can hear Rysanov at his most persuasive, and delight in his musicianship for its own sake. Classical music and opera guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our  ... (link)