Works for Viola and Orchestra [Reverse Directions]

Violist Dana Zemtsov is accompanied by Modestas Pitrėnas and the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra on Reverse Directions. This recording brings together two ideas: movement and belonging. For Zemtsov, movement can lead in many directions—out into the world, into memory, back to one’s roots, toward another culture, or to a place that may never be physically reached again. Born in Mexico, raised in Europe, and deeply connected to both the Latin American and European music worlds, her artistic voice is rooted not in a single place, but in the dialogue between them. Gyula Dávid’s Viola Concerto draws on Hungarian folkloric elements. Bohuslav Martinů’s Rhapsody-Concerto, composed in exile, carries the unmistakable tension between distance and belonging. The album is rounded out by two works for solo viola: Fazıl Say’s Viola Sonata and Francisco Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra.