Brahms: Viola II, Maxim Rysanov – review

Viola discs are flooding the market currently as if this middle-voiced stringed instrument had just been discovered: about time too. Hyperion's Complete Hindemith (soloist Lawrence Power) and English Music for Viola on Naxos (soloist Matthew Jones) are two recent pleasures, but this Brahms chamber music CD from Maxim Rysanov steals the limelight. Transcriptions are the norm for the viola, which has a relatively small repertoire. Here the clarinet quintet Op 115 has Rysanov replacing clarinet, with a string quartet led by Alexander Sitkovetksy. Mezzo Alice Coote and pianist Ashley Wass join for Two Songs Op 91. The concluding work is on the glorious string quintet No 2 in G, Op 111. It's addictive.