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Complete works for viola - Vol. 2
Johannes Brahms

Mikhail Zemtsov & friends

Complete works for viola - Vol. 2

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200270
Catnr: CC 720027
Release date: 03 April 2026
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1 CD
€ 19.95
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917200270
Catalogue number
CC 720027
Release date
03 April 2026
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

This second volume of Johannes Brahms: Complete Works for Viola continues Mikhail Zemtsov’s deeply personal exploration of Brahms’s late chamber masterpieces, heard through the warm, human voice of the viola. Centered on works originally inspired by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, this album reimagines the Trio Op. 114, Quintet Op. 115, Zwei Gesänge Op. 91, and the Scherzo from the FAE Sonata from a new sonic perspective—one that reveals an intimate, unified string sonority and an expressive depth uniquely suited to the viola. Particularly striking is Brahms’s instinctive use of the viola’s lowest register, drawing the listener immediately into a world of introspection, tenderness, and inward poetry.

More than a scholarly project, this recording is a heartfelt artistic statement, born from Zemtsov’s conviction that the viola holds a special affinity with Brahms’s musical language. By pairing the instrument with kindred voices—strings, piano, and the human voice—the album invites listeners to rediscover these iconic works as profoundly vocal, homogenous, and emotionally resonant creations. As the second chapter (volume 2) in a complete cycle commemorating Brahms’s legacy, this release offers not just an alternative version of familiar masterpieces, but a compelling re-illumination of their inner soul.

Artist(s)

Mikhail Zemtsov (viola)

Mikhail Zemtsov is an internationally acclaimed and versatile musician, being a prominent soloist, teacher, educator, chamber musician and conductor. Zemtsov's solo appearances include performances with the National Symphony Orchestras of Mexico, Estonia and Lithuania; Luxembourg Philharmonic  Wiener Volksoper, Hamburger Symphoniker, Rheinische Philharmonie, Stavanger Symphony (Norway), The Hague Philharmonic (Netherlands) with the conductors as Neeme Jarvi, Jaap van Zweden, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko.  Mikhail is member of the Utrecht String Quartet and the Duo Macondo (with the guitarist Enno Voorhorst). Mikhail also founded an unique ensemble - Zemtsov Viola Quartet - together with his wife Julia, brother Alexander and daughter Dana, all of them prominent viola players who studied with great viola virtuoso Michael Kugel.  Mikhail Zemtsov is appointed viola teacher at the Royal Conservatory of...
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Mikhail Zemtsov is an internationally acclaimed and versatile musician, being a prominent soloist, teacher, educator, chamber musician and conductor.

Zemtsov's solo appearances include performances with the National Symphony Orchestras of Mexico, Estonia and Lithuania; Luxembourg Philharmonic

Wiener Volksoper, Hamburger Symphoniker, Rheinische Philharmonie, Stavanger Symphony (Norway), The Hague Philharmonic (Netherlands) with the conductors as Neeme Jarvi, Jaap van Zweden, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko.

Mikhail is member of the Utrecht String Quartet and the Duo Macondo (with the guitarist Enno Voorhorst). Mikhail also founded an unique ensemble - Zemtsov Viola Quartet - together with his wife Julia, brother Alexander and daughter Dana, all of them prominent viola players who studied with great viola virtuoso Michael Kugel. Mikhail Zemtsov is appointed viola teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Utrecht Conservatory (Netherlands).

Many of his students became prize winners at International Competitions.

Mikhail is regularly invited as a jury member of International Competitions, amongst others, Lionel Tertis Competition 2019, and he is giving numerous masterclasses all over the world.

Mikhail is giving lessons of orchestral conducting to the instrumentalists at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, he has also teached for many years the orchestral conducting to the choir conductors at the Kurt Thomas Course in the Utrecht Conservatory. Mikhail has been principal conductor of Utrecht Conservatory Strings and Atheneum Chamnber Orchestra. Since 2010 he is conductor of the Young Talent Symphony Orchestra by Rotterdam Conservatory, he is also being regularly invited as a guest conductor in Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain and South America. He has worked with soloists as Janine Janssen, Dmitri Makhtine, Atar Arad, Gavriel Lipkind and Malibran Quartet. Mikhail has participated in numerous International Festivals in Europe,Far East and the Americas as chamber music partner to Bella Davidovitch, Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Sitkovetski, Sarah Chang, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Misha Maisky; Leipziger, Jerusalem, Borodin quartets. He has recorded numerous CDs for Sony Masterworks, Tower Records, Deutsche Welle, Ottavo, D&G, Toccata, as well as recordings for TV and radio. His Solo CD "The Last Rose of Summer" has been placed as number 2 among Top 50 of the TROS - Dutch Broadcast/TV Channel and it has got 9 points (excellent) in the main Dutch recording magazine "LUISTER".

His 2016 recording for Chandos label of Rapsody - Concerto by B. Martinu with Maestro Neeme Jarvi and National Symphony Orchestra of Estonia has been highly acclaimed by international press, including Gramophone magazine.

Mikhail Zemtsov first took violin lessons from his mother Loudmila Levinson at the age of 5, later studying viola and composition at the conservatories of Moscow, Hamburg and Maastricht with G. Odinets, B. Dinerstein, M. Nichetianu, M. Kugel.

Mikhail studied Masters in Orchestral Conducting at Lithuanian Music Academy with Juozas Domarkas,

he also took conducting lessons and masterclasses with Lev Markiz, , Neeme Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, Gianandrea Noseda.

Mikhail is a prize winner of the First International Viola Competion (Vienna,1998) and of the Elisa Meyer String Competition (Hamburg, 1998).


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Daniel Rowland (violin)

Dutch/English violinist Daniel Rowland’s playing has been acclaimed as ‘wonderful, ravishing in its finesse’ by The Guardian and as ‘both naked and highly virtuosic’ by NRC Handelsblad, while The Herald praised his ‘astonishing sound and uniquely single-minded intensity’.  Daniel has established himself on the international scene as a highly versatile, communicative, charismatic and adventurous performer, with a broad repertoire from Vivaldi to Van der Aa. In recent seasons Daniel has performed with concertos ranging from Beethoven to Brahms, Elgar, Berg, Korngold, Weinberg and Prokofiev, with conductors such as Heinz Holliger, Jaap van Zweden, François-Xavier Roth, Lawrence Foster, Antony Hermus and Rossen Milanov. He is a passionate advocate of contemporary concertos such as Vasks, Lindberg, Glass, Saariaho, Nisinman and Van der Aa....
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Dutch/English violinist Daniel Rowland’s playing has been acclaimed as ‘wonderful, ravishing in its finesse’ by The Guardian and as ‘both naked and highly virtuosic’ by NRC Handelsblad, while The Herald praised his ‘astonishing sound and uniquely single-minded intensity’.

Daniel has established himself on the international scene as a highly versatile, communicative, charismatic and adventurous performer, with a broad repertoire from Vivaldi to Van der Aa. In recent seasons Daniel has performed with concertos ranging from Beethoven to Brahms, Elgar, Berg, Korngold, Weinberg and Prokofiev, with conductors such as Heinz Holliger, Jaap van Zweden, François-Xavier Roth, Lawrence Foster, Antony Hermus and Rossen Milanov. He is a passionate advocate of contemporary concertos such as Vasks, Lindberg, Glass, Saariaho, Nisinman and Van der Aa. Recently he premiered Isidora Zebeljan‘s Violin Concerto ‘Three Curious Loves’ and this autumn sees the premiere of Roxanna Panufnik‘s ‘Songs of Love and Friendship’ with the Dutch Radio Choir at the Concertgebouw. September 2020 sees the release of ‘Distant Light’, with violin concertos by Peteris Vasks (Challenge Records).

A passionate chamber musician, Daniel has performed with artists as diverse as Ivry Gitlis, Heinz Holliger, Martha Argerich, Michael Collins, Lars Vogt, Giovanni Sollima, Marcelo Nisinman, Willard White and Elvis Costello. Daniel is one half of acclaimed duo partnerships with pianist Natacha Kudritskaya with whom he earlier recorded for Champs Hill Records a disc dedicated to the Enescu Sonatas (‘a perfect partnership’ – BBC Music Magazine), and with cellist Maja Bogdanovic, whose recent duo CD ‘Pas de deux’ (Challenge Records) was described as ‘a magical meeting between violin and cello’ by Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. In 2005 Daniel founded the Stift International Music Festival in the bucolic region of Twente in the eastern Netherlands, where he grew up, with the 15th century Stiftkerk as the main venue. The festival has garnered acclaim as one of great intimacy, adventure and atmosphere. Daniel was for twelve years the leader of the Brodsky Quartet, performing all over the world, and making numerous recordings, including the celebrated Shostakowitch Cycle.

Daniel was born in London, and started his violin lessons in Enschede after his parents moved to Twente in the eastern Netherlands. He studied with Jan Repko, Davina van Wely, Herman Krebbers, Viktor Liberman, Igor Oistrakh and Ivry Gitlis. His violin is by Lorenzo Storioni (Cremona 1796), and his bow is a Maline, kindly loaned by the Dutch Instrument Foundation. He teaches at the Royal College of Music in London. He lives in Amsterdam with his partner, cellist Maja Bogdanovic´.


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Hanna Shybayeva (piano)

Having commenced her international career at the age of eleven, Hanna Shybayeva has transformed from being a 'child prodigy' to the mature and exciting musician she is today. Her playing has been praised by both the public and the press for her deep musical interpretations, captivating energy, a great sense of form and a rich colour palette. Devoted to music in every form, Hanna enjoys her solo performances as much as being a partner in both chamber and vocal music. Born into a family of musicians, Hanna began her piano-education at the age of six. Already since a very young age she has won many prizes at International Piano Competitions in Europe and Russia and had a busy schedule participating in festivals and giving solo-recitals as...
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Having commenced her international career at the age of eleven, Hanna Shybayeva has transformed from being a 'child prodigy' to the mature and exciting musician she is today. Her playing has been praised by both the public and the press for her deep musical interpretations, captivating energy, a great sense of form and a rich colour palette. Devoted to music in every form, Hanna enjoys her solo performances as much as being a partner in both chamber and vocal music.

Born into a family of musicians, Hanna began her piano-education at the age of six. Already since a very young age she has won many prizes at International Piano Competitions in Europe and Russia and had a busy schedule participating in festivals and giving solo-recitals as well as concert-performances with orchestras in Europe, Russia and the US.

Hanna had the privilege to work closely with professors like Dmitri Bashkirov, Ferenc Rados and Naum Grubert, which had a deep influence on her musical development. With Naum Grubert she studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where she graduated in 2005 as Master of Music with the highest distinction. Since then, her numerous performances include appearances in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ireland, the US and Canada.

Festival performances include a.o. Festival Classique Den Haag, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht, Gergiev Festival Rotterdam, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Sound Of Stockholm Festival, Festival Ticino Musica Italy, Festival van Vlaanderen Belgium.

Since 2008 she has been a member of the New European Ensemble. The ensemble exists of soloists and chamber musicians from across Europe and is one of the most innovative, vibrant and versatile ensemble's for new music. In the same year Hanna started a chamber music project "Symphonic Intimacy" together with the Ysaye String Trio a project showcasting historical chamber music arrangements of symphonic works.

Strongly influenced and inspired by other genres like contemporary and jazz music Hanna forms a piano duo together with an Italian jazz pianist and composer Gianluca di Ienno. Started in 2014 under the titel Pianologues this duo draws inspiration from their respective repertoires and tries the third way, through interpretation, elaboration, improvisation and composition. Therefore written music gives room to improvisation in the same way improvisation becomes a trigger to invade one or the other piece of classical repertoire making the concert continuous clink of ideas and spontaneity.

Since 2013 Hanna has held a position as piano professor at the International Anton Rubinstein Music Academy in Düsseldorf.


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Marion van den Akker (mezzo soprano)

Composer(s)

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. His reputation and status as a composer is such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the 'Three Bs' of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.   Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have become...
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Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. His reputation and status as a composer is such that he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.
Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished.
Brahms has been considered, by his contemporaries and by later writers, as both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers. Within his meticulous structures is embedded, however, a highly romantic nature.

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Press

Play album Play album
01.
Trio Op. 114 for viola, cello & piano: I. Allegro
07:07
(Johannes Brahms) Timora Rosler, Hanna Shybayeva, Mikhail Zemtsov
02.
Trio Op. 114 for viola, cello & piano: II. Adagio
07:19
(Johannes Brahms) Timora Rosler, Hanna Shybayeva, Mikhail Zemtsov
03.
Trio Op. 114 for viola, cello & piano: III. Andantino grazioso
04:33
(Johannes Brahms) Timora Rosler, Mikhail Zemtsov, Hanna Shybayeva
04.
Trio Op. 114 for viola, cello & piano: IV. Allegro
04:34
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Hanna Shybayeva, Timora Rosler
05.
Quintet in B minor Op. 115 (Clarinet Quintet): I. Allegro
12:42
(Johannes Brahms) Dana Zemtsov, Maya Bogdanovich, Floor Le Coultre, Daniel Rowland, Mikhail Zemtsov
06.
Quintet in B minor Op. 115 (Clarinet Quintet): II. Adagio
11:06
(Johannes Brahms) Maya Bogdanovich, Dana Zemtsov, Floor Le Coultre, Daniel Rowland, Mikhail Zemtsov
07.
Quintet in B minor Op. 115 (Clarinet Quintet): III. Andantino
04:24
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Daniel Rowland, Floor Le Coultre, Dana Zemtsov, Maya Bogdanovich
08.
Quintet in B minor Op. 115 (Clarinet Quintet): IV. Con moto
09:01
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Daniel Rowland, Floor Le Coultre, Dana Zemtsov, Maya Bogdanovich
09.
Zwei Gesaenge Op. 91 for mezzo soprano, viola & piano: Gestillte Sehnsucht
06:05
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Marion van den Akker, Victoria Dmitrieva
10.
Zwei Gesaenge Op. 91 for mezzo soprano, viola & piano: Geistliches Wiegenlied
05:48
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Marion van den Akker, Victoria Dmitrieva
11.
FAE Sonata: Scherzo
05:23
(Johannes Brahms) Mikhail Zemtsov, Hanna Shybayeva
show all tracks

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