Tabea Zimmermann & Thomas Hoppe

Transparency and warmth - The viola is her personal voice: that is how the exceptional soloist Tabea Zimmermann recently described the undeniable symbiosis between herself and the instrument she chose early in life. Some of the greatest contemporary composers have dedicated works to her transparent art of interpretation - and Brahms and Reger would surely have done the same, had they known her.

Brahms first tied his Sonata op. 78 to the violin, and to moments of grief and consolation shared with Clara Schumann. The exacting critic Hanslick praised the work as "a tone-piece spun from fine silver threads"; contemporaries heard in the sonata - also published in a viola version - the echo of the tender song "Regenlied" op. 59/3. About 50 years later, Max Reger remarked with satisfaction that he could at last compose "as I have always imagined it". The solo part of his Clarinet Sonata op. 107, a "bright and friendly work" from that period, Reger himself arranged for viola as well.

Programme:
Hummel, Viola Sonata in E flat major op. 5 no. 3
Brahms, Violin Sonata no. 1 in G major op. 78 (version for viola)
Reger, Clarinet Sonata in B flat major op. 107 (version for viola)

Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Thomas Hoppe, piano