A beautifully delivered showcase for the viola

Nicholas Kenyon enjoys the marvellous musicality in Timothy Ridout's sonorous survey of solo works for the instrument

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JS Bach • Britten • Telemann • Shaw

Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 in B flat major, TWV 40:14; Fantasia No. 7 in E flat major, TWV 40:20 (both Trans. viola); Caroline Shaw: in manus tuas (version for solo viola); Britten: Elegy for Solo Viola; JS Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (Trans. viola) Timothy Ridout (viola)

Harmonia Mundi HMM902750 61:08 mins

From the shadows of chamber and orchestral music where it is so often eclipsed, the viola here emerges as a hero in its own right, the glorious sound of the unaccompanied instrument – apparently a Peregrino Di Zanetto of c.1570, though the booklet does not reveal this – resonating from the very first note and sustained throughout this exceptionally thoughtful and well-recorded collection. This is an album that proclaims the viola as a distinctive, individual solo instrument, ideally served here by its skilled interpreter.