Aurelien Petillot, viola.
Helen Bravenec, violin.
Julia Cory, cello.
Isaac Bustos, guitar.
Paganini had commissioned Berlioz to write him a concertante work that would showcase his newly acquired, magnificent Stradivari viola. Berlioz obliged and presented him with Harold in Italy. Paganini didn't think he had enough to play, so he rejected the work. This quartet for viola, violin, cello, and guitar, is one of the works he composed instead. If there ever was a viola work that shatters all stereotypes associated to the instrument, a work that is both virtuosic, lyrical, exhilarating, brilliant, and with more mood swings than there are extraneous letters in the French language, this is it!
www.violabychoice.org
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