Ashan Pillai, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Christopher Hogwood - Hoffmeister: Complete Works for Viola (2004)

Music publisher, friend, benefactor to Mozart, and respected composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a significant figure in late eighteenth century Vienna; his star did not fade until well into the nineteenth century, when he was eventually disparaged as a mediocrity. Yet Hoffmeister could have no better advocates than violist Ashan Pillai and conductor Christopher Hogwood, who have restored some of this composer's reputation in a delightful album of his complete works for viola. Pillai's idiomatic and sensitive solos and Hogwood's fastidious direction of the Gulbenkian Orchestra elevate the music to a high level of elegance and charm, and it becomes apparent from these performances that Hoffmeister was much better than his detractors claimed. The brilliantly virtuosic Concerto in D major has remained a staple of the violist's repertoire and is the most familiar piece here. However, the warmly lyrical Concerto in B flat deserves equal attention; its intimacy makes it a perfect foil for the more extroverted and flamboyant work. The Etudes (12) for solo viola, previously unrecorded, reflect both Hoffmeister's technical acumen and expressive depth, and Pillai, who clearly regards them as something more than studies, renders them with a Classicist's fine balance of skill and feeling. The sound quality is fine, with credible presence and natural resonance.