Tabea Zimmermann

Romance Oubliée

(Myrios Classics)

The great violist Tabea Zimmermann tells a lovely story on her new disc, Romance Oubliée (Forgotten Romance) of how, when she was recording all of Paul Hindemith's viola sonatas with her accompanist, pianist Thomas Hoppe, the two musicians decided to "lighten up" between takes by playing lighter, shorter viola pieces to relax their minds and muscles. It developed into a project and this album is the result. Viola players, like all instrumentalists, know the nooks and crannies of their repertoire as nobody else does, so we can all be forgiven if many of these wonderful, forgotten gems come as discoveries. The collection, featuring pieces by Hans Sitt (of whom I had never heard), Glazunov, Vierne, Vieuxtemps, Wienawski, Liszt, Kreisler and Kodaly, contains wall-to-wall beautiful music by which I am charmed and enraptured. The Six Album Leaves by Bohemian composer Sitt is breathtakingly gorgeous music. The disc is more than a collection: it's a companion, and the warm-toned playing of Zimmermann is an embrace.

Michael Tumelty