MUSIC FOR THE VIOLA: A 20th-Century Anthology....

MUSIC FOR THE VIOLA: A 20th-Century Anthology. John Graham, viola; Robert Black and Thomas Muraco, piano. Composers Recordings Inc., CRI ACS 6016, 6017, 6018 (3 separate cassettes). Some of the cuts on the first recording were previously released, but most of this prodigious undertaking is newly recorded. The project reveals a substantial repertory, too little heard even in the established contributions from Stravinsky, Britten and Shostakovich. Graham’s playing is occasionally technically gruff but always purposeful and committed, and reaches real eloquence in some of the solo works on the second installment and in William Bergsma’s “Fantastic Variations on a Theme From ‘Tristan’ ” on the third recording.