Included in this post is most of the music from two LPs Trampler made for RCA Red Seal. I had assumed they would be available on CD and was surprised to discover they are not. Of the two LPs only the 5'43" Stravinksy Elégie on the Solo Viola disc would not fit on an 80 minute CD, so I have saved it for a subsequent post.
There are two sonatas for Viola and Piano of Hindemith (RCA Red Seal LSC-3012) that Trampler recorded with Ronald Turini, an artist with whom I am otherwise unfamiliar. The F major sonata (dated 1922, though written during the war) Op. 11, No. 4 is a delightful, chromatic, post-romantic composition, expansive in its expression, even if not unduly emotional. The Sonata 1939 is more firmly planted in the new century and shares the emotional austerity of so much art in the years between the world wars and subsequently. It is, nonetheless, despite its lack of key signature and free chromaticism, a work that does not wander too far from suggestions of a tonal center, however changeable.
The Hindemith Solo viola Sonata Op 25, No. 1 and the two Reger Suites for solo viola all seem to bow deeply before the solo violin partitas and sonatas and the solo cello suites of J.S. Bach. The Reger compositions are virtually an homage to Bach's suites, which will surprise no one familiar with the later composer's Bach Variations for piano (played stunningly in an easy to get recording by Rudolph Serkin). The Hindemith sonata is, perhaps, not so obviously indebted to Bach, but it is hard to imagine this music without the model of the earlier master. Indeed, the sense of musical continuity one experiences listening to this record is profoundly satisfying.
(A brief, personal aside: My inability to concentrate and to think coherently recently, due to fatigue induced by Spring allergies, has kept me from posting this for several days. So, for the moment, while I do hope I have not embarrassed myself too much by making stupid mistakes, I want to get Trampler's performances of these works up. I think they are superb. )
The text file included in the files linked below included the track listing and other pertinent information. Downloading it is recommended.
4/10 @ 3:57 Mountain Time : Back CD insert posted
Link to all files
