With up-front sound – not a note missed in Marlborough College, Wiltshire (4/2021) – Dukes & Donohoe give us Brahms’s alternative viola versions of his Opus 120 pair of Clarinet Sonatas. These are magnetic accounts, Dukes rich-toned, shapely and intense, Donohoe (don’t miss his Busoni, http://www.colinscolumn.com/peter-donohoe-records-piano-music-by-busoni-for-chandos/) an articulate, powerful and expressive partner: a dynamic duo, the music seasoned to emotional ripeness. Slightly less successful is the Scherzo from the shared composition that is the FAE Sonata, which, despite excellent execution, lacks the brilliance of the violin original; however, Schumann’s Adagio & Allegro (Opus 70) is wonderful: mellifluous and high-spirited. Chandos CHAN 20146.
Philip Dukes & Peter Donohoe record Brahms for Chandos.
