Like other composers of his generation, Bohuslav Martinu wrote works for an incredibly wide assortment of instrumental combinations. This is wonderful news for violists, whose repertoire often receives few contributions from popular composers. Even given Martinu's fondness for the viola (and especially for the violin-viola duo configuration), the total sum of these works clocks in at just over 45 minutes, making for a somewhat short CD. Violist Kenneth Martinson is joined by violinist Felicia Moye for the first two works on ...
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Like other composers of his generation, Bohuslav Martinu wrote works for an incredibly wide assortment of instrumental combinations. This is wonderful news for violists, whose repertoire often receives few contributions from popular composers. Even given Martinu's fondness for the viola (and especially for the violin-viola duo configuration), the total sum of these works clocks in at just over 45 minutes, making for a somewhat short CD. Violist Kenneth Martinson is joined by violinist Felicia Moye for the first two works on the program: Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola and the Duo No. 2 for Violin and Viola. Despite Martinson's desire to put the viola in the forefront for this album, his instrument serves a decidedly subservient role for much of these two works. This is especially regrettable given the quality of Moye's violin playing. Intonation is often intolerably poor, and her playing in general is somewhat sloppy, careless, and overly vertical. The recorded sound quality of the duo does even...
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