The Strad Recommends: Timothy Ridout: Bach, Britten, Shaw, Telemann

THE STRAD RECOMMENDS

The Strad Issue: May 2025

Description: An adventurous violist offers a dance through the centuries

Musicians: Timothy Ridout (viola)

Works: Bach: Partita no.2 BWV1004. Britten: Elegy. Shaw: in manus tuas. Telemann: Fantasias nos.1 and 7

Catalogue number: HARMONIA MUNDI HMM902750

This unaccompanied recital enables the listener to wallow undistracted in the seductive sounds of Timothy Ridout’s viola, a Peregrino di Zanetto from c.1565/75. His chosen repertoire bridges three centuries – even more if you factor in Thomas Tallis, the inspiration behind Caroline Shaw’s in manus tuas, a meditation on the Tudor composer Thomas Tallis’s motet of that name.

Ridout’s tonal palette is at its broadest here, from the piece’s almost toneless beginning and end to its arpeggio-laden climax, throwing in some lute-impersonating pizzicato passages along the way. In the 16-year-old Benjamin Britten’s Elegy, Ridout draws a succulent sound and, observing the composer’s already highly personal markings and fingerings (Britten was of course a proficient viola player), he builds up to an impressive culmination before a whispered con sordino coda.

Ridout lavishes as much loving care upon Telemann’s miniatures as on J.S. Bach’s monumental violin masterpiece. Sticking mostly to low positions and with generous use of open strings, he brings out the music’s latent polyphony, while sprightly rhythms and a keen ear for embellishments underline its omnipresent dance-like character.

Tully Potter’s engaging booklet notes reveal that the first recording of Bach’s Chaconne was made a century ago by Lionel Tertis – on the viola. Ridout’s reading, which brings this beautifully recorded recital to a majestic close, bears encouraging testimony to how far the instrument has come since that pioneering feat.

CARLOS MARÍA SOLARE