COMPOSERS: Bach,Patterson,Ysaye
LABELS: www.tasminlittle.org.uk
WORKS: Bach: Partita No.3; Yasye: Sonata No.3; Paul Patterson: Lusalwice variations.
PERFORMER: Tasmin Little (violin)
Virtuoso Tasmin Little's website is good‑looking, well laid out, and helpful if you’re new to downloading music files. You can sample its individual tracks or pieces on your computer before burning a high quality CD, and Little provides an extra 25 minutes of commentary for novices, more experienced listeners, and teachers.
Her aim is to show off the versatility of the unaccompanied violin, and encourage those who would never buy a classical CD to give it a listen – ‘…people are comfortable with their computers,’ she says. ‘Online, you might try something you’d never dream of doing anywhere else…’
The recording has a nice bloom, and the pieces are all played in a full-blooded, engaged style – you can imagine them like this in a concert, odd rough edge and all. Her Bach has vigour in the rhythms and phrasing, and doesn’t sit down or become indulgent.
In Paul Patterson’s Variations she shows off her command of various string techniques without losing sight of the musical argument, and the Ysaÿe is alternately warm and impetuous. An experiment which deserves a wide uptake.