Berlioz: Harold in Italy; Beatrice and Benedict - Overture / Paganini: Sonata per la Gran Viola & Orchestra, MS 70

For his second CD release, 25-year-old, New York-born violist David Aaron Carpenter is joined by Vladimir Ashkenazy who leads the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Together they perform the Symphony with Viola obbligato, 'Harold in Italy,' which Hector Berlioz originally wrote on a commission from Paganini. The present recording features, for the first time, a more virtuoso soloist part written for Paganini.

The coupling is a showpiece, which Nicolo Paganini wrote after rejecting his earlier Berlioz commission; 'The Sonata per la Gran Viola displays the highest virtuosic writing for this instrument,' says David Aaron Carpenter, who defines his mission as focusing attention on the viola as a great solo string instrument in its own right.