Roger Chase Featured at European Festivals
Internationally acclaimed British violist Roger Chase performs this autumn at both the Schiermonnikoog Festival in Holland and the Consonances Festival of Chamber Music in Saint Nazaire, France.
Among the works Chase will perform are several chamber music rarities including the Piano Quintet in C, op. posth. by Nikolay Karlovich Medtner (1880-1951), Reinhold Glière’s (1875-1956) Octet in D, op. 5, and the String Quartet (with 2 cellos) in a minor, op.35 by Anton Arensky (1861-1906). Other festival concerts include works of Brahms (Sonata No. 1 in f minor with Stephen Kovacevich, the Piano Quintet, and the Clarinet Trio in an rarely-performed version for viola), the Schubert C major String Quintet, and Puccini’s Il Tramonto.
The varied repertoire is a marked change from Roger Chase’s recent presentations of “The Tertis Project,” a series of concerts devoted to works by important U.K. composers of the last century which were written especially for, inspired by, or dedicated to the legendary violist Lionel Tertis (1876-1975).“The Tertis Project,” with pianist Michiko Otaki, was presented by the National Gallery of Art, Princeton University, the Harvard Musical Association, and in Cleveland, Toronto, London (Ontario), and elsewhere.
Chase performs on the very same instrument which belonged to Tertis, the 17-1/8" Montagnana viola which Tertis purchased in pieces during one of his concert tours to Paris in 1920.
Roger Chase’s latest recording of works by Benjamin Dale (1885-1943) on Dutton Epoch, was named "RECORDING OF THE MONTH" by MusicWeb International, whose critic called it "undoubtedly one of my Records of the Year for 2008.” The Strad called it "a lovingly presented recording . . . Roger Chase, completely at home in this music's unashamedly Romantic idiom, meets the music's outrageous demands head on . . . a radiant, beautifully balanced performance."
American Record Guide writes this month that "Chase and Otaki have a marvelous rapport... I love the way they play."