Horn and viola comparative versions for a cello sonata? Well, Atterberg’s B minor Sonata (1925) was designed to be played by a single stringed instrument – violin, viola or cello – and in 1955 the composer himself made the very effective transcription for horn. Each solo instrument subtly alters the expressive character of the piece and listening to the various versions there is something of the four ages of man, or the seasons perhaps, about them: the youthful (spring-like) ardour of the violin, the slightly blowzier summer-vigour of the horn, the cello and viola increasingly mellow – autumn and winter, perhaps. (Atterberg’s preferred version was for his own instrument, the cello.) What is notable about the three accounts aside from the solo instrument is the treatment of the central Adagio molto, Thomas-Mifune taking (at 10'43'') around four minutes longer than the two Marco Polo performances (both with Ilona Prunyi as pianist) which seem much closer in retrospect to Andante. Thomas-Mifune is clearly closer to the truth (maybe a shade too slow), but the quicker versions do work nicely. Oddly, this gentle movement’s expressive character changes little with the variation of instrument.
The Cello Concerto (1917-22) does not exist in an alternative version, although the composer later created a nominal ‘Second’ from his Horn Concerto, Op. 28. I find Atterberg’s style tends to be identifiable by what it is not as much as by its own characteristics; in the Cello Concerto there are a variety of resonances of the sound worlds of others, especially the Sibelius of the Violin Concerto, while in the finale some of the orchestral writing points (briefly but remarkably) towards Villa-Lobos! It is a rather lovely piece, and receives a most sympathetic interpretation from Thomas-Mifune and Rickenbacher. The sound quality is nicely judged (warmer in the Sonata than either of the Marco Polo issues). Perhaps Koch will give us a similar coupling of the Horn Sonata and Concerto?'