Rózsa: Viola Concerto; Bartók: Viola Concerto; Serly: Rhapsody

Lawrence Power (viola), Bergen PO/Andrew Litton Hyperion CDA 67687****

Béla Bartók is the undisputed master among these three Hungarian composers of works for viola and orchestra. In the world of the viola, Tibor Serly (1901-78) is best-known as the man who made a finished concerto out of the sketches for the work commissioned from Bartók by viola player William Primrose. Serly's own earlier Viola Concerto of 1929 is passed over for a later Rhapsody based on Hungarian folk tunes, as harmonised by Bartók. Miklós Rózsa (1907-95) is best-known as an Oscar-winning film composer, and in fact, the composition of his Viola Concerto was interrupted by work on the score for Alain Resnais's Providence(1976). Lawrence Power plays all three pieces with big-toned, fibre-rich advocacy, the Bartók concerto still standing head and shoulders above the other pieces. See url.ie/4qdb