Steven Dann – Sonatas & Suites CD

From Steven Dann comes Sonatas & Suites, a classical album on Atma Classique. This is the CD edition. This edition was released on February 26, 2013.

It wasn't until 1894, 99 years after the violin and cello were allowed into the Paris Conservatory, that the institution's great doors were opened for the viola. On this recording, internationally renowned Canadian violist Steven Dann and pianist James Parker introduce listeners to little known music, including two works that have never before been recorded. REVIEW This obscure bouquet of profoundly decadent music for the viola lover in your circle includes Pierre de Breville's 20-minute long Sonata, lit by reflections filtered through the Parisian sunshine of an 83-year old composer who 60 years earlier had known Wagner, Liszt, Bruckner and Grieg, and Charles Tournemire's Suite Op. 11, moving through an absorbing, gently-colored landscape of Franckian ecstasy and spirituality, written for the famous conductor (and one-time violist) Pierre Monteux. --Laurence Vittes, Huffinton Post, August 2014