LDV75

18 WALTON • GRISI • PROKOFIEV Do you have a special relationship with today’s composers? We performing musicians are nothing without composers. When you’re a violist, you’re particularly aware of the contribution of composers of our time. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the viola has no longer had to pale before the violin or the cello: it has its own repertory, open to a wide range of possibilities. In the case of Gwenaël Grisi’s piece, I also have an extremely strong feeling of having experienced and shared a powerful, rich and constructive collaboration. One can sense that you’re very active in promoting the viola repertory and championing your instrument. It’s true that it’s very important tome!And this recording is also a formof testimony to that. Since I’ve started teaching and giving masterclasses, I’ve noticed, for example, that the repertory of my album ‘English Delight’ gets played nowadays, whereas it was unknown in France before. Young violists talk to me about the Clarke Sonata, or the pieces by Bridge or Vaughan Williams, and are very keen to play them. It was my audience that encouraged me to record the Sonata by Rebecca Clarke. Now it’s the youngmusicians who are taking over by playing it and perpetuating it. That’s rather more interesting than ‘simply’ offering a programme of masterpieces (Schumann’s Märchenbilder , Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, the Brahms sonatas) of which there are already plenty of benchmark versions. I will record those extraordinary pieces – I feel ready to do so today – but I’m happy to have performed this task of transmission with my first two recordings.