Sunday Classics preview: Put a violin and viola together, and what do you get?

The great Arthur Grumiaux (center) with two other pretty good
fiddlers, Yehudi Menuhin (left) and David Oistrakh (right)

by Ken

As violinists and violists know, there's actually a mildly extensive body of music written for the combination of their instruments. This stuff is great for playing with each other, but not so compelling for public-performance purposes. When it comes to the good stuff, the name that pops to mind is (who else?) Mozart.

The two duos for just violin and viola -- an improbably combination, given the absence of an instrument to provide a bass line -- are "accidental" gems in that they were written to help out Mozart's friend Michael Haydn (the younger brother of Franz Joseph), who was too ill to complete a commission for a set of six he was too ill to complete. Yes, they were really offered to Michael H to pass off as his own work.

With regard to the performances, we've noted it before but it's worth noting again: The great Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux was an indefatigable chamber-music player. The recordings that he made with select friends of all the Mozart quintets with strings are among the glories of the recorded legacy.

MOZART: Duo No. 1 in G for Violin and Viola, K. 423
i. Allegro
ii. Adagio
iii. Rondeau: Allegro


MOZART: Duo No. 2 in E-flat for Violin and Viola, K. 423
i. Allegro
ii. Andante cantabile
iii.Tema con variazioni: Andante grazioso; Allegretto; Allegro

Arthur Grumiaux, violin; Arrigo Pelliccia, viola. Philips, recorded June 1968

Of course when we think of the combination of Mozart and the violin and viola, we think of the great Sinfonia concertante. Here's just the finale, played by soloists who probably played more Mozart than any other violinist and violist who've recorded the piece. That's because wearing their normal musical hats as first violinist and violist of the celebrated Amadeus Quartet, Norbert Brainin and Peter Schidlof recorded all of Mozart's string quartets and quintets, many of them more than once. This performance is from the last of their three recordings of the Sinfonia concertante.

MOZART: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, K. 364:
iii. Presto

Norbert Brainin, violin; Peter Schidlof, viola; Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond. Chandos, recorded Apr. and June 1983


THIS WEEK IN SUNDAY CLASSICS

In last night's preview we heard the concluding "Alleluja" from Mozart's motet Exsultate, jubilate and the beautiful little choral gem "Ave verum corpus. It's a pretty good bet that in tomorrow's Sunday Classics post we're likely to hear some combination of that music and tonight's preview music.

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