SERGEI VASILENKO (1872-1956): Complete Music for Viola and Piano - Sonata, Op. 46, Lullaby, 4 Pieces on Old Lute Music, Op. 35, Sleeping River, Oriental Dance, Op. 47, 4 Pieces, Zodiakus, Op. 27.

Description: The 1923 sonata was first recorded on Naxos, offered last March (03L069), while the remainder of these works are first recordings. The ten pages of notes by the violist, who also discovered everything here but the sonata, paint a portrait of a composer with widely-ranging interests, from the lute music transcriptions of the 17th century and earlier, to the French baroque pieces which make up Zodiakus, to the influences of Scriabin, neo-Classicism and pre-17th-century Russian "Old Believer" monodic singing, traces of which can be found in several of the tracks recorded here. Some of these interests were less condoned by the Soviet authorities than others, leading to Vasilenko's current obscurity. Elena Artamonova (viola), Nicholas Walker (piano).