The great viola player
Emanuel Vardi is in his early nineties
and any restoration of his recordings
is to be welcomed and – moreover – valued,
so august is his musicianship. He was
never afraid to transcribe; indeed he
was a consummate practitioner of the
subtle art of the encore, lacing the
second halves of his concerts with lighter,
intimate repertoire. This recital was
recorded in 1988 and was therefore recorded
when Vardi was around seventy-three
– the technique remains solid and fluent
and his instinct for phrasing as magical
as ever. All these pieces are heard
in his transcriptions except obviously
for his own Suite and Tibor Serly’s
Rhapsody, which were both written for
the viola.
His Chopin Nocturne
is delicately wafted and raptly phrased.
Après un rêve is
a classic case of subtle vibrato usage
and changes of colour; every note is
kept alive and vibrant, without Vardi
ever transgressing by playing too loud
– something his very eminent predecessor
Lionel Tertis habitually did with this
piece. Vardi brings out the vocality
of it, its intensity, whilst also offering
it independence as an instrumental reflection.
Beautiful. His Debussy is polished –
note the lovely quick portamento – and
refined in higher positions.
He essays the Siete
Canciones Populares Españolas
of de Falla and does so with an
exemplary sense of characterisation
and evocative rhythmic charge. Nana’s
languorous song is finely calibrated
whilst Polo evinces vitality and drive.
His own arrangement of Guitarre, the
Moszkowski standby, is warmly vibrated
and the dapperly dispatched passagework
is matched by the sureness of the contrastive
lyric section. The Kreutzer Etude, with
piano accompaniment, is no dry study;
Vardi shows how packed full of incident
and life it can be when played like
this. There are two larger works here
as well, as noted above. Vardi’s Suite,
based on American Folk Tunes is cast
in five movements. There’s a lovely
Song – vaguely reminiscent of
Shenandoah - and a vibrant, alternating
slow and languorous, Ad lib and Slow
Walk movement. The Middle Fiddler
in ¾ time ends things with a flourish.
Serly’s Rhapsody is
ripely Hungarian, imbuing things a little
with Serly’s Bartókian affiliations
along the way. It’s essentially folkloric
and unaffected, with a charming rather
light dance as the central movement.
The finale gets a bit ‘barbaric’ and
its gypsy heels are kicked from time
to time – very pleasant if smilingly
derivative.
The recital also includes
the Chaconne form the D minor Partita.
This was a piece that Lionel Tertis
recorded on 78s, ever after – when taste
changed – regretting his lavish employment
of portamentos. Vardi’s playing is adroit
and strongly directional, a lean not
over-emotive approach, which is also
quite quick.
I’d never come across
these performances before. I’m not sure
if they are new to the discographies
or may derive from, say, Musical Heritage
sessions. In any case their appearance
here is a splendid thing – nicely annotated
and in excellent sound as well.
JonathanWoolf
Emanuel Vardi (viola) 
