Following on from their highly successful disc ‘A Winter’s Tale’, viola virtuoso Roger Benedict and renowned pianist Simon Tedeschi present a new studio album reimagining masterpieces by Debussy and Ravel for the rich, mellow tone of the viola – the ‘melancholy dreamer’, as Berlioz described it. With its wistful sound, the viola gives a new and fresh character to these pieces, which, even now, seem radical in their conception.
The album opens with Benedict’s arrangements of four of Debussy’s evocative Préludes, and closes with the composer’s kaleidoscopic Cello Sonata. In between, we hear viola arrangements of Ravel’s lyrical Violin Sonata – a youthful work, left unpublished at his death – as well as his sensual Piece in the form of a Habanera and the soulful, melancholy Kaddisch, with the viola singing the hauntingly beautiful melodic line. The album also features Ravel’s radiant Sonatine in its original version for solo piano.
