ConcertPulse
Chamber Concert
No other instrument has had to endure more jokes than the viola. Of course this is completely unjustified when one listens carefully to its richly warm and refined sound, which will be evident in this program of chamber music. The concert opens with nine captivating minutes in which two violas literally intertwine in George Benjamin’s Viola, Viola. The tightly woven dialogue between the two instruments unfolds with tonal depth and polyphonic, highly complex textures, assuming in places an almost orchestral quality: a surging, dance-like, ingeniously direct drama of the viola repertoire. In Beethoven’s String Quintet, the two violas create a remarkably lyrical, warm atmosphere, and in the Mendelssohn they are surprisingly captivating, full of verve and exuding optimism.