YURI BASHMET: THE COMPLETE RCA RECORDINGS (9 CDS)

“Never have I heard lovelier tone from any viola,” wrote Gramophone of the programme of Schubert, Schumann, Bruch and Enescu heard in this extraordinary 9-CD compilation of Yuri Bashmet’s complete RCA recordings. “As an artist he breathes life into every note. This is immediately apparent in Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata … In Bruch’s Kol nidrei, no cello could sing out the old synagogue melody with more plangency than Bashmet’s viola.” In a later issue, Gramophone, referring this time to his Walton-Bruch coupling, exclaimed, “With Bashmet at his finest, and the LSO playing beautifully for both Järvi and Previn, this is a disc for anyone with a taste for romantic viola music.

Beethoven:
String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 'Serioso'
Moscow Soloists

Brahms:
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Moscow Soloists
Two songs for contralto with viola obbligato, Op. 91
Larissa Diadkova (contralto), Mikhail Muntian (piano)
Viola Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120 No. 1
Mikhail Muntian (piano)
Viola Sonata No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120 No. 2
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Britten:
Lachrymae for viola & strings, Op. 48a
Moscow Soloists

Bruch:
Concerto for Violin & Viola, Op. 88
Viktor Tretyakov (violin)
Romance for viola & orchestra/piano, Op. 85
London Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Kol Nidrei, Op. 47
London Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Kol Nidrei, Op. 47
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Enescu:
Concert piece for viola & piano
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Glinka:
Viola Sonata in D minor
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Grieg:
Holberg Suite, Op. 40
Moscow Soloists
Two Nordic Melodies, Op. 63
Moscow Soloists

Hindemith:
Trauermusik
Moscow Soloists

Reger:
Suite G minor, Op. 92
Moscow Soloists

Roslavets:
Viola Sonata No. 1
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Schnittke:
Trio Sonata for chamber orchestra
Moscow Soloists
Viola Concerto
London Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich
Monologue
Moscow Soloists

Schubert:
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D810 'Death and the Maiden'
Moscow Soloists
Sonata in A minor 'Arpeggione', D821
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Schumann:
Märchenbilder (4), Op. 113
Mikhail Muntian (piano)
Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Op. 70
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Shostakovich:
Sinfonia for Viola and Strings
Moscow Soloists
Viola Sonata, Op. 147
Mikhail Muntian (piano)

Tchaikovsky:
Serenade for strings in C major, Op. 48
Moscow Soloists

Walton:
Viola Concerto
London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn