Impressive playing from the Philadelphia Orchestra's first chair violist Roberto Diaz marks this generally fine recording of works by Henri Vieuxtemps. In the B-flat major viola sonata, the best-known work here, Diaz and his accompanist Robert Koenig take the reflective Maestoso preface quite sedately. They're slower than Nobuko Imai and Roger Vignoles on Chandos, for example, but Diaz's cavernous tone, especially in the lower registers, is denser and weightier, ideally suited to the music's serious mood. Later, the main sonata allegro brings effective dynamic contrasts, especially in the second theme, and Koenig is careful to match Diaz's sensitive con melancholia phrasings during the ensuing Barcarolla.

Although the duo could have managed greater dramatic contrast in the brief animato section part way through, Koenig highlights it later in the reprise, where it's heard as an accompaniment to the main theme. Both players attack the finale with relish, yet the viola's taxing figurations are never overshadowed, even when the piano writing becomes similarly complex. The Op. 30 Elegie gets an eloquent performance too, and Diaz's superbly virtuosic reading of the Capriccio for solo viola isn't bettered on disc. The 24-bit engineering (produced, incidentally, by guitarist Norbert Kraft) is top-drawer, and Diaz is on masterful form throughout.

--Michael Jameson