All this week on Classic Drive, Lorcan will feature music from Timothy Ridout's new album, A Lionel Tertis Celebration.
A year on from his Gramophone Award-winning recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto in Lionel Tertis's deft transcription for the viola, Timothy Ridout is back today with a programme which celebrates the patron saint of his instrument in several of his capacities. Tertis is represented here as arranger, composer, and above all muse and commissioner for a wide range of composers who were inspired by missionary zeal to expand the solo repertoire for an instrument which had languished in the shadows for long periods in music history.
Born in West Hartlepool in 1876, Tertis was nineteen before he picked up a viola: like so many converts from the violin he was persuaded to switch over temporarily as part of a string quartet, but the experiment sparked a fire within him which led to a career dedicated to raising the instrument's profile and inspiring future generations of viola-players to set their sights beyond orchestral work and chamber music. Ridout is a direct beneficiary of Tertis's legacy, having come to prominence after winning the competition which bears his name in 2015, and has recently followed in his footsteps by being appointed Visiting Professor of Viola at the Royal Academy of Music (where Tertis taught from 1899).
The first of two short pieces by Tertis himself follows: namely Sunset, a charming muted miniature which showcases the instrument's singing upper register and would sound right at home in an Edwardian salon. A string of his arrangements of popular works by Fauré, Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn also come off beautifully, as do two puckish little pieces by the blind Blackburn organist William Wolstenholme (which Tertis transcribed from the originals for organ, to the composer’s great delight). Ridout is joined by pianists Frank Dupree and James Baillieu throughout this album.
Tune in at 5:20 everyday this week to hear a selection from this album on Lorcan Murray's Classic Drive.