Sergei Vasilenko: Complete Music for Viola and Piano

Catalogue Number: TOCC0127
EAN: 5060113441270
Release Date: 5 September 2011
Duration: 67:33

Viola Sonata, Op. 46
Lullaby
Four Pieces on Old Lute Music, Op. 35
Sleeping River
Oriental Dance, Op. 47
Suite Zodiakus I.A.S.
Four Pieces

Elena Artamonova, viola
Nicholas Walker, piano

The Russian composer Sergei Vasilenko (1872–1956) was influenced by the nineteenth-century nationalist school, by his teacher Taneyev and by Scriabin, adding an interest in Symbolism and hints of early modernism. The discovery of the seven viola compositions on this CD – most of them unknown before now – not only expands the repertoire of the instrument; it also points to the courage of a composer who spent his life treading the tight-rope between his own musical interests and the demands of Soviet ‘socialist realism’.

Liner Notes (PDF)