Brahms By The Bashmets

The works of chamber music that showcase the timbre of the viola, so delicate and so profoundly human, are relatively scarce. Brahms' two sonatas, Op. 120, elegant and highly expressive, sublimate the extreme sensitivity of the viola with a simplicity that only perfect mastery of musical composition can achieve. The music of Brahms and Yuri Bashmet's viola were made to meet each other. Admirably accompanied by her daughter, Ksenia Bashmet, he takes us into a world of depth, virtuosity and aesthetic prowess. As if a butterfly-viola were playing a flower-piano, they fly together in a frenzied pursuit, only to end in the burst of laughter of a chord which we know ahead of time can only be perfect.