Ettore Causa - Brahms & Schumann: Transcriptions for Viola & Piano (2015) [Hi-Res]

It was standard practice in the 19th century to expand the possible target public for a work by issuing it in arrangements for different instruments. Thus Schumann’s publisher already issued alternative parts for violin or cello with the first editions of his wind duos, obviously with Schumann’s full consent. Had the viola enjoyed the same popularity in the mid-19th century that it does today, then Schumann’s publisher would undoubtedly have included alternative viola versions too. Let us not forget that Brahms himself stipulated that his late clarinet sonatas could be performed by the viola instead; and even the early Cello Sonata recorded here was soon issued by Simrock in a piano duet arrangement made by Brahms’s trusted editor Robert Keller. Our 21st-century notions of “authentic” performance are thus not identical with “authenticity” as Schumann or Brahms would have understood it. Performing their chamber music in arrangements for other instruments – in our case the viola – is thus not just “authentic” in terms of the 19thcentury, but in fact in the spirit of the composers themselves, who never hesitated to allow idiomatic arrangements of their works in order to bring them to a broader audience.

01. None - Fantasiestücke for Piano & Clarinet (Violin & Cello ad libitum), Op. 73 (Transcription for Viola): I. Zart und mit Ausdruck (3:17)
02. None - Fantasiestücke for Piano & Clarinet (Violin & Cello ad libitum), Op. 73 (Transcription for Viola): II. Lebhaft, leicht (3:40)
03. None - Fantasiestücke for Piano & Clarinet (Violin & Cello ad libitum), Op. 73 (Transcription for Viola): III. Rasch und mit Feuer (4:35)
04. Ettore Causa - F.A.E Sonata for Violin & Piano (Transcription for Viola): II. Intermezzo (2:25)
05. Ettore Causa - Adagio & Allegro for Piano & Horn, Op. 70 (Transcription for Viola): Adagio - Allegro (8:22)
06. Ettore Causa - Romances for Oboe & Piano (Violin or Clarinet ad libitum), Op. 94 (Transcription for Viola): I. Nicht schnell (3:33)
07. Ettore Causa - Romances for Oboe & Piano (Violin or Clarinet ad libitum), Op. 94 (Transcription for Viola): II. Einfach, innig (4:31)
08. Ettore Causa - Romances for Oboe & Piano (Violin or Clarinet ad libitum), Op. 94 (Transcription for Viola): III. Nicht schnell (5:10)
09. Boris Berman - Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38 (Transcription for Viola): I. Allegro non troppo (14:47)
10. Boris Berman - Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38 (Transcription for Viola): II. Allegretto quasi menuetto (5:37)
11. Boris Berman - Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38 (Transcription for Viola): III. Allegro (6:29)