“It’s life Jim, but not as we know it” is a famous line from “Star Trek” (or not — it’s actually in the spoof hit “Star Trekkin’”) but it could be applied to the word “tunes” in this title: you need to go a long way to find a tune, as they’re not as we know them.
Not that it’s in any way a bad album, it being an album of solo violin and viola works recorded on historic instruments, one of the oldest violas in England (how big a field that is, I don’t know, I can’t imagine they’re lining up down the street).
The violin was made for Charles II and might have been played by Thomas Baltzar, who became the King’s leader on 23rd December 1661, and the viola is a Jacob Rayman from about the same time, for all you stringheads.
More than tunes, it is a pocketful of whimsy. The album opens with “Three Disused Stations Op. 463”, which references a toy train set the composer played with as a kid as well as the Beeching cuts (“Dr Beeching gets a bad press,” say the sleeve notes).
“Alleyway, Pastoral, River Falls Op. 439” is the violinist’s journeys around the world set to music, while “Will Rosin of Wapping” is introduced by “Space forbids the inclusion here of the complete tale of Will Rosin as related in the December 1709 edition of Tatler.”
All told, 76 minutes of solo violin (or viola) might be a little much but there’s a fair amount of variation, and more than a few moments of jollity in the classical noodling, some of which appears early on and sets the album up well. None of the pieces is long, so it moves on at speed. And it’s Peter Sheppard Skærved, so the playing is mighty fine. Surprisingly enjoyable.
Out on Metier, MEX 77148.