大象传媒

What do you call someone who hangs around musicians? A viola player (lol)!

Mark Seow explores the historical roots for the 鈥渧iola joke鈥�, which goes back to at least 1752 when Johann Joachim Quantz wrote that 鈥渟o few violists devote as much industry to their work as they should...remaining chained to the viola to the end of their lives鈥�. But the viola wasn鈥檛 considered a lowly instrument by everyone. It possessed a range and timbral quality that many Baroque composers associated with tenderness and love 鈥� made explicit by its stranger cousin, the viola d鈥檃more.

In this programme, we'll hear the viola come into its own as a sonorous solo instrument in music by Telemann, Bach, Biber, Rosenm眉ller and others.

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers just say "Ask 大象传媒 Sounds to play The Early Music Show".