Let Beauty Awake

Rebecca Clarke’s increasingly popular Viola Sonata of 1919 forms the centerpiece of this lovely program of British music for viola and piano, here warmly embraced by the Swedish viola player Ellen Nisbeth. Her gloriously sensitive and passionate playing finds a perfect partner in the doyen of Sweden’s chamber pianists, Bengt Forsberg. A couple of Vaughan Williams’ songs in transcriptions by Nisbeth are strikingly done, while Britten’s Cello Suite no. 3 makes the transition to viola with ease, Nisbeth engaging with its gritty side with intensity and a wonderful range of colors.