R Clarke: Viola Sonata; Britten: Lachrymae for viola and piano; Bowen: Phantasy for Viola and Piano
Izabel Markova (viola), Alla Belova (piano), Irene Puccia (piano)
Claves CD3073 53:59 mins
The Viola Sonata of 1919 is by far Rebecca Clarke’s best known composition – ‘that one little whiff of success that I’ve had in my life,’ as she herself put it – and the Bulgarian violist Izabel Markova’s new recording competes impressively with the three-dozen others currently available. The sonata’s assertive opening motif announces Markova as a confident and decisive presence, commanding in her integration of the music’s simmering drama with its many more lyrical moments.
Both Markova and her pianist here, the Italian Irene Puccia, excel in the mercurial Vivace middle movement, etching out subtle gradations of mischief and caprice while avoiding the impression that the writing is merely virtuosic. And in the broad rhapsodic sweep of the Adagio finale, Markova summons an almost cello-like richness of tone from her instrument, yet with all the dynamic nuance needed to lend expressivity to Clarke’s richly expansive paragraphs.
Even more precise detailing is needed in Britten’s Lachrymae, and the refined poetry Markova brings to the quieter-voiced pizzicato, multi-stopped and sul ponticello ‘reflections’ is particularly impressive. The eventual emergence of the Dowland melody on which Lachrymae is based is seamlessly managed, the tune itself delivered with a moving dignity.
York Bowen’s Phantasy, contemporaneous with Clarke’s Sonata, exudes a marked Brahmsian influence. Markova relishes this, phrasing with a rich-toned generosity which suits the music’s temper and a controlled fieriness at its peroration. Markova was just 25 years old when this debut recording was made, and on its evidence she is an artist we’ll be hearing considerably more of in the future.