The works of chamber music that showcase the timbre of the viola, so delicate and so profoundly human, are relatively scarce. The music of Brahms and Yuri Bashmet’s viola were made to meet each other. Admirably accompanied by his daughter, Ksenia Bashmet, he takes us into a world of depth, virtuosity and aesthetic prowess.

Brahms Sonatas, Op. 120, Nos. 1 and 2, elegant and highly expressive, sublimate the extreme sensitivity of the viola with a simplicity that only perfect mastery of musical composition can achieve.

The name of Yuri Bashmet has long been a synonym for musical depth, virtuosity and aesthetic prowess. His artistic feats over the year are too great to be numbered, but one of his greatest accomplishments deserves particular attention: Yuri Bashmet has transformed the previously modest viola into a brilliant solo instrument in its own right.

He has played the viola in every work devoted to the instrument, and gone even further. His playing has broadened the field of possibilities for contemporary composers: a profusion of works, including fifty concertos for viola, have been especially composed for him or dedicated to him.

Bashmet was the first viola player in the world to perform a recital at Carnegie Hall, New York; the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Barbican Centre, London; both the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus, Berlin; La Scala, Milan: the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris; Hercules Hall, Munich; Boston Symphony Hall, the Suntory Hall, Tokyo; Symphony Centre, Chicago; the Calouste Galbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; and the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Bashmet has played with many internationally renowned conductors, such as Rafael Kubelík, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Seiji Ozawa, Valeri Guerguiev, Guennadi Rojdestvenski, Colin Davis, John Gardiner, Yehudi Menuhin, Charles Dutoit, Neville Marriner, Paul Sacher, Thomas Boaz Allen, Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.