Composer: Rebecca Clarke, Claude Achille Debussy, George Enescu, Darius Milhaud, Arne Werkman
Performer: Dana Zemtsov, Anna Fedorova
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Channel
Catalogue: CCS42320
Release: 2020
Size: 2.28 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Clarke: Viola Sonata
01. I. Impetuoso
02. II. Vivace
03. III. Adagio-Allegro
04. Debussy: La plus que lente
Werkman: Suite for Viola and Piano
05. I. Allemande
06. II. Branle
07. III. Pavane
08. IV. Tarantella
09. Debussy: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune
Milhaud: Viola Sonata No. 1, Op. 240
10. I. Entrée
11. II. Française
12. III. Air
13. IV. Final
14. Enescu: Konzertstück for viola & piano
15. Debussy: Beau Soir
World-class musicians Dana Zemtsov and Anna Fedorova joined forces when they discovered they have a mutual friend. ‘Do you know that feeling when coming to a new place as if the atmosphere you are in has been with you forever, recognizing it like an old friend? Our upbringing was similar, and filled with Guy de Maupassant, Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Jean de La Fontaine, Pierre Richard, Louis de Funès, Georges Brassens, Édith Piaf, Charles Trenet. This could be a logical explanation for us both experiencing this sense of familiarity every time we cross the border to France. Or maybe we have lived some of our previous lives in these surroundings that they seem so close to us?
This is by no means a story about France. Each piece in this album has its own story, its own thoughts and feelings. However, throughout it, if you listen with your eyes closed, you will occasionally sense the presence of a furtive silhouette ‘à la Française’. – Dana Zemtsov & Anna Fedorova (from liner notes
The young violist Dana Zemtsov is a versatile player who has recorded music of her native Mexico as well as from various European traditions. Here, she and pianist Anna Fedorova weave English, Dutch, French, and Romanian pieces into an evocative sequence in which all the music falls generally into the French sphere and is informed by the inimitable way the French have with nostalgia. Debussy is represented in venerable transcriptions, and much of the music derives from the retrospective strands of his personality. The program opens with the Viola Sonata of Rebecca Clarke, influenced by the Violin Sonata in G minor of Debussy but a more tense and exacting work. It receives a precise performance here, but the real fun begins when Zemtsov relaxes into some more purely neoclassic works. There is a fine sonata by the little-known composer Arne Werkman and a lovely rendition of George Enescu’s Concert Piece for viola and piano. However, the real highlight is the fairly obscure Viola Sonata No. 1, Op. 240, of Milhaud, written during World War II but redolent of the gentle hillsides of California, to which the composer fled. The work brings out Zemtsov’s best quality: her remarkable way with lyrical melodies, which are abundant in this work. The whole thing is highly listenable in music that’s generally unfamiliar, except for the Debussy, and it’s beautifully recorded.