Viola virtuosa Veit Hertenstein

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
• 1 Bach: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue, BWV 903 (Arr. Z. Kodály for Viola) 08:52
• Max Reger (1873 - 1916): Solo Viola Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op.131d No. 3:
• 2 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op.131d No. 3: I. Molto sostenuto 04:23
• 3 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op.131d No. 3: II. Vivace 03:25
• 4 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op.131d No. 3: III. Andante sostenuto 03:09
• 5 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 1 in G Minor, Op.131d No. 3: IV. Molto vivace 01:11
• Solo Viola Suite No. 2 in D Major, Op. 131d No. 2:
• 6 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 2 in D Major, Op. 131d No. 2: I. Con moto 02:22
• 7 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 2 in D Major, Op. 131d No. 2: II. Andante 03:42
• 8 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 2 in D Major, Op. 131d No. 2: III. Allegretto 01:34
• 9 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 2 in D Major, Op. 131d No. 2: IV. Vivace 02:33
• Solo Viola Suite No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 131d No. 3:
• 10 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 131d No. 3: I. Moderato 03:34
• 11 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 131d No. 3: II. Vivace 02:01
• 12 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 131d No. 3: III. Adagio 02:55
• 13 Reger: Solo Viola Suite No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 131d No. 3: IV. Allegro vivace 01:36
• Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 - 1704): Rosenkranz Sonaten:
• 14 Biber: Rosenkranz Sonaten: No. 16, Passacaglia, C 105 (Arr. for Viola) 08:35
• Gaspar Cassadó (1897 - 1966): Suite (Arr. for Viola):
• 15 Cassadó: Suite (Arr. for Viola): I. Prelude - Fantasia 06:20
• 16 Cassadó: Suite (Arr. for Viola): II. Sardana 05:05
• 17 Cassadó: Suite (Arr. for Viola): III. Intermezzo e danza finale 05:52
• Eugène Ysaÿe (1858 - 1931): Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 27 No. 7 (Arr. for Viola):
• 18 Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 27 No. 7 (Arr. for Viola): I. Allemanda. Lento maestoso 05:40
• 19 Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 27 No. 7 (Arr. for Viola): II. Sarabande. Quasi lento 03:11
• 20 Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 27 No. 7 (Arr. for Viola): III. Finale. Presto ma non troppo 03:35
• Total Runtime 01:19:35

Info for Viola virtuosa

"The position of the instrument between violin and cello offers us violists many possibilities to combine elements from both sound worlds and thus create something independent and new. On this album there are a number of transcriptions -not out of a desire to take something from someone else, but because I firmly believe that good music can be played in many ways as long as we remain true to the spirit in which the work was originally composed. This recording features works by Eugene-Auguste Ysaye and Gaspar Cassadó, played for the first time on the viola. Ysaye has fascinated me for a long time, and having played this work in a number of concerts, it was natural to record his 4th Sonata. It was my former pupil Martin Moriarty who suggested the possibility of playing Cassadó on the viola when he turned up for a lesson one day with the score of this cello suite. I was excited from the start because the suite sounds so good on the viola, and I hope that the enthusiasm we felt during the recording session is audible. Thank you very much, Martin, for this great idea!" (Veit Hertenstein)

Veit Hertenstein, viola solo

Prof. Veit Hertenstein
German violist Veit Hertenstein plays with “admirable precision, dedication and strong musical expression“ (Augsburger Allgemeine 2013) as well as “maturity, technique, thoughtful musicianship, and a tone of dark honey” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer 2013). Mr. Hertenstein is Professor for Viola at the Musikhochschule Detmold, Germany and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Furthermore he founded the Orion String Trio.

Mr. Hertenstein has been invited to the Marlboro Music Festival, the Seiji Ozawa International Music Academy, the Viola Space Festival Tokyo, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad and the Verbier Festival, where he was awarded the “Henri Louis de la Grange” viola prize. He has also been several times invited to the La Folle Journée Festival in Nantes and Tokyo.

As a chamber Musician he collaborated with Trio Wanderer, Modigliani and Ysaye Quartets, Brigitte Engerer, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg String Quartet), Nobuko Imai and with Midori.

In the United States Mr. Hertenstein performed in concert halls such as The Merkin Hall, New York, The Kenendy Center in Washington D.C. after winning First prize as well as eight performance prizes in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions 2011 in New York City.

Mr. Hertenstein has won several prestigious competitions. In 2009 he was the first violist to win the New Talent Competition of the European Broadcasting Union in Slovakia founded by Yehudi Menuhin, which was followed by world-wide radio broadcasts. He was a prize-winner of the first Tokyo International Viola Competition 2009. In 2007 he was the first violist to win First Prize at the Orpheus Competition in Zurich, Switzerland, which enabled him to record his debut CD with Euro Classics. Pro Helvetia commissioned a Viola Concerto by Swiss composer Nicolas Bolens which was premiered in Geneva 2014.

Born in Augsburg, Germany, Mr. Hertenstein began studying the violin and piano at the age of 5 and switched to the viola when he was 15. In 2009 he graduated with distinction from the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, where he worked with violist Nobuko Imai. He also has been artistically influenced by György Kurtag, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Yuri Bashmet and Kim Kashkashian.

2011 until 2017 Mr. Hertenstein was the principal violist in the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.

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