The young violist Dana Zemtsov is a versatile player who has recorded music of her native Mexico as well as from various European traditions. Here, she and pianist Anna Fedorova weave English, Dutch, French, and Romanian pieces into an evocative sequence in which all the music falls generally into the French sphere and is informed by the inimitable way the French have with nostalgia. Debussy is represented in venerable transcriptions, and much of the music derives from the retrospective strands of his personality. The program opens with the Viola Sonata of Rebecca Clarke, influenced by the Violin Sonata in G minor of Debussy but a more tense and exacting work. It receives a precise performance here, but the real fun begins when Zemtsov relaxes into some more purely neoclassic works. There is a fine sonata by the little-known composer Arne Werkman and a lovely rendition of George Enescu's Concert Piece for viola and piano. However, the real highlight is the fairly obscure Viola Sonata No. 1, Op. 240, of Milhaud, written during World War II but redolent of the gentle hillsides of California, to which the composer fled. The work brings out Zemtsov's best quality: her remarkable way with lyrical melodies, which are abundant in this work. The whole thing is highly listenable in music that's generally unfamiliar, except for the Debussy, and it's beautifully recorded.
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