Violist Daniel Orsen and pianist Pierre-Nicolas Colombat perform William Primrose’s arrangement of Wagner’s song ‘Träume’. The work features on the duo’s upcoming album, Wagner’s Nightmare.

Wagner’s Nightmare is characterised by intellectual curiosity, humour, irreverence, and multi-media output, particularly writing. The project is named after the composer Richard Wagner, whom the pair describe as ’the most absurd, controversial and influential composer of all time.’ Each piece on the album is connected in some way to something or someone that Wagner did not like. The album also features works performed on the massive 19-inch Viola Alta, an instrument Wagner specified for use in his orchestra at Bayreuth.

Wagner’s Nightmare will be released as a Limited Digital Album on 19 April 2024.

Read: The Viola’s White Knight: Hermann Ritter and the quest for the perfect Alto instrument

Read: Teachers, luthiers and archetiers: how a bespoke solution helped a violist with an immovable right index finger

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Best of Technique

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

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American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.

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