Dutton's The Tertis Tradition celebrates the legacy of an instrumentalist who was to the viola what Pablo Casals was to the cello; Lionel Tertis moved the viola out of its usual context as an accompaniment instrument and helped establish it as a viable solo voice. Among Tertis' co-conspirators in this crusade was an emergent generation of British composers also attempting to find footing in a musical world increasingly stacked against them, the taste of the British public long being out of sympathy with international trends ...
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Dutton's The Tertis Tradition celebrates the legacy of an instrumentalist who was to the viola what Pablo Casals was to the cello; Lionel Tertis moved the viola out of its usual context as an accompaniment instrument and helped establish it as a viable solo voice. Among Tertis' co-conspirators in this crusade was an emergent generation of British composers also attempting to find footing in a musical world increasingly stacked against them, the taste of the British public long being out of sympathy with international trends. The strongly melodic grounding of these composers naturally also made them an uncomfortable fit for the twentieth century, and yet all but York Bowen managed to find a place in that temporal continuum. With the exception of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Lionel Tertis managed to connect with these now prominent names and got them to contribute to the viola literature early in their careers. The Tertis Tradition features violist Roger Chase with pianist Michiko Otaki; Chase has an especial...
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