I’ve decided to start a regular column on Mondays that deals just with the viola. The viola is, of course, my chosen instrument (although I think that’s not quite correct\u2013I think it chose me), and there are a lot of cool and not so well-known things about it that you should know about. This first item is a rarity – a newly discovered piece of Shostakovich. In this case, it’s an Impromptu for viola and piano dating from 1931. It’s stunningly played here by the great Paul Neubauer and pianist Wu Han. Paul plays a gorgeous Brothers Amati viola in this video from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/vimeo.com\/288798163<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve decided to start a regular column on Mondays that deals just with the viola. The viola is, of course, my chosen instrument (although I think that’s not quite correct\u2013I think it chose me), and there are a lot of cool and not so well-known things about it that you should know about. This first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-viola"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3TC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12668,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/28\/things-heard-discovered-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":0},"title":"things heard & discovered – part I","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't normally do a lot of listening to recorded music, with the exception that I often use recordings as a way to prepare for upcoming performances. Every so often, however, I do happen to purchase recordings out of either curiosity to hear something I've never heard before, or for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chihara-colletti","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/chihara-colletti-500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2820,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/07\/simply-purple\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":1},"title":"simply purple","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In 1998, composer Joan Tower was commissioned by violist Paul Neubauer (a perennial Chamber Music NW favorite) to write a work for solo viola.\u00c2\u00a0 The result was Wild Purple, a fantastic tour de force that shows off the virtuosity of today's violist.\u00c2\u00a0 The title came from Tower's association of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3572,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/07\/viola-congress-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":2},"title":"viola congress 2010","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The International Viola Society is presenting its 38th annual Congress in Cincinnati, Ohio in June 2010.\u00a0 It has an amazing lineup of some of the foremost viola players in the world, with an emphasis on those from the U.S.\u00a0 If you're partial to the viola (as I am) then you'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3823,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/16\/viola-matic\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":3},"title":"viola-matic!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"via non divisi","rel":"","context":"In "fun"","block_context":{"text":"fun","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6048,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/25\/viola-goodies\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":4},"title":"viola goodies","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I've been scouring YouTube for any new (and impressive) viola videos, and there are quite a few that I hadn't seen before. If you are still of the notion that the viola is a second-string (sorry) instrument, then you are sadly misinformed! Enjoy. httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BFX7Ft1QGg8 Russian viola phenom Maxim Rysanov\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4044,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/14\/cello-de-braccia-or-worlds-largest-viola\/","url_meta":{"origin":14980,"position":5},"title":"cello de braccia or world’s largest viola?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "cello"","block_context":{"text":"cello","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/instruments\/cello\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}