With his 2nd Viola Sonata from 1959, Josef Schelb (1894–1977) gave the viola a representative work with the potential for a significant concert career – despite the wealth of repertoire of this instrument, which has been popular from the Baroque to the present.

Josef Schelb, an exponent of the 20th-century’s so-called “classical modernism,” knew how to use a wide range of the instrument’s tonal possibilities for his typical, unmistakable personal style of those years, combining atonal-to-dodecaphonic structures with contrapuntal composing techniques. In the work’s four movements, sharply contrasting in tempo and expression, the emotional tension ranges from a lyrical, contemplative inwardness via a humorous, dance-like ease to expressive, rhythmically intricate staccato formulas. Originality, compositional mastery, inventiveness, and high viola characterstics – coupled with a considerable demand of virtuosity – are features of this work, now available for the first time in a published edition.

“What superb tonal balance, wit power, colour and finesse is in the score! The sonata could be programmed as a whole, and also some movements could very well stand alone in a recital program.”
(Helen Tuckey, AUSTA Stringendo)