Beamish: Viola Concerto No. 2 / Whitescape / Sangsters Tabea Zimmermann, Swedish Chamber Orchestra & Ola Rudner

• Sally Beamish (1956- ):
• 1 Viola Concerto No. 2, "The Seafarer": I. Andante irrequieto 07:41
• 2 Viola Concerto No. 2, "The Seafarer": II. Andante malevole 08:10
• 3 Viola Concerto No. 2, "The Seafarer": III. Andante riflessivo 11:48
• 4 Whitescape 10:22
• 5 Sangsters: I. Laverocks: Andante - Allegro 04:58
• 6 Sangsters: II. Selkies: Adagio 07:52
• 7 Sangsters: III. Choir-sang: Andante maestoso 06:41
• Total Runtime 57:32

Info for Beamish: Viola Concerto No. 2 / Whitescape / Sangsters

From 1998 to 2002 Sally Beamish took part in a composer "exchange" between the Swedish and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, and all the pieces on this disc were products of that residency. The most substantial and striking of the three is Beamish's second concerto for her own instrument - she was a viola player in the Scottish CO in the 1980s - which carries the subtitle The Seafarer, and is based upon the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name. The three movements are strongly characterised, as you'd expect the solo writing is wonderfully idiomatic .. It was written in memory of conductor David Shallon, the husband of Tabea Zimmermann, the soloist. It takes poetry as its inspiration, and uses the sea voyage as a metaphor for the passages of life. The imagery is dark and icy, with a glimmer of hope at the end. Beamish relies more on colour and gestural and textural variety than on melodic premises to create interest, but she has a full arsenal of musical inventiveness to describe the relatively narrow range of themes and images -- coldness, isolation, tortuous, and dangerous terrain that she explores in the pieces on this album. Beamish writes for the instrument with real understanding, and her concerto sounds like it would be gratifying for the performer as well as a showcase of the viola's unique dark qualities. Zimmermann plays beautifully, with fullness and sensitivity. Ola Rudner conducts the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Örebro, in committed and atmospheric performances. The sound is natural, spacious, and clear. --- Whitescape, a sketch for an opera based on the life of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, explicitly conjures images of the arctic tundra where Dr. Frankenstein has traveled in search of his monster. It's highly effective in its evocation of a bleak, frozen landscape. --- Sangsters, a three-movement tone poem suggested by the Scots poetry of Betty McKellar, depicts a craggy and similarly chilly terrain.

Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Ola Rudner, conductor

Tabea Zimmermann
started to play the viola at the age of three, and two years later began playing the piano. She studied with Ulrich Koch at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and subsequently with Sandor Vegh at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Following her studies, she received several awards at international competitions, amongst them first prizes at the 1982 Geneva International Competition and the 1984 Budapest International Competition. As a result of winning the 1983 Maurice Vieux Competition in Paris, she received a viola by the contemporary maker Etienne Vatelot on which she has performed ever since. From 1987 to 2000, she regularly gave concerts with the late David Shallon in Düsseldorf, Jerusalem and Luxemburg. Since October 2002, she has been professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She previously held teaching posts at the Musikhochschule Saarbrücken (1987 to 1989) and Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt (1994 to 2002).

Tabea Zimmermann has received several national and international awards for her outstanding artistic contributions including Hessischer Kulturpreis, Frankfurter Musikpreis and International Prize Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna.

Booklet for Beamish: Viola Concerto No. 2 / Whitescape / Sangsters