Nectar for a violist's heart
Konrad Ewald presents an idiosyncratic, very personal guide to the viola literature with the new edition of his "Music for Viola".
The subtitle "The rich viola repertoire from Aaltonen to Zytowitsch" is justified by a new vademecum that includes countless unknown composers. It is a practice-oriented source work of a special kind, a wonderfully unconventional book full of surprises. A passionate amateur violist with half a century of chamber music experience writes in a refreshing way about how he feels about the compositions discussed. Most of the commentaries on the works are valuable, professionally convincing pleas from a music lover who is particularly adept at playing quartets. His enthusiasm for many a forgotten gem is inspiring.
In the preface, the author admits: "My comments are (subjective) suggestions and (objective) information about the nature and difficulty of the works." For example, he writes about Rebecca Clarke's main work: "An extremely lively sonata that contains everything a violist's heart could desire ..." On the availability of Sergei Slonimski's works, he makes one of many time-critical remarks: "It is inexplicable to me that such restrictions still exist in 2010, when everyone is talking about globalization."
In his book, which is indispensable for viola players, Ewald lists chamber music works with viola and other string instruments in addition to the compositions for viola and piano, gives references to foundations, sources of supply and, as an appendix, in addition to a list of anthologies, includes an index by instrumentation.
Konrad Ewald, Music for viola. The rich viola repertoire from Aaltonen to Zytowitsch. 4th completely revised and greatly expanded edition, 454 pages, Fr. 68.00, self-published, Liestal 2013
Distributed by: Amadeus Vertrieb, Winterthur, Order No.: EWALD, ISBN 978-3-033-03872-1
