I’ve decided to start a regular column on Mondays that deals just with the viola. The viola is, of course, my chosen instrument (although I think that’s not quite correct–I think it chose me), and there are a lot of cool and not so well-known things about it that you should know about. This first item is a rarity – a newly discovered piece of Shostakovich. In this case, it’s an Impromptu for viola and piano dating from 1931. It’s stunningly played here by the great Paul Neubauer and pianist Wu Han. Paul plays a gorgeous Brothers Amati viola in this video from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
https://vimeo.com/288798163