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Thanks to Lionel Tertis (1876-1975), the great viola player who inspired many works last century, British composers have had a close association with the instrument.

No viola jokes, please - this is a seriously good recording.

Thirty-year-old viola player Lawrence Power is surrounded by the paraphernalia of the international soloist: the Nokia smartphone, the bags of music, and an austere, unadorned instrument case. You wouldn't think to look at this anonymous exterior that it houses Power's holy of holies, the 400-year-old viola by Antonio Brensi that he has been playing for the past six years. \"It's such a fabulous instrument,\" he says. \"It asks questions of me and inspires me. When I first started playing it, it was like driving a Porsche when you've just passed your driving test. It took me four or five years before I came to terms with it. It manages to combine both the deep viola sound, and the sweeter, higher side. But it's temperamental: you have to know how to treat it. It's harder to play than a modern instrument, and sometimes you think, 'Oh for fuck's sake, I just want to play in tune.' But my viola has an endless bank of colour you can access, and there's so much personality in each note. It's very inspiring.\" Power's softly-spoken self-effacement belies his achievements, and his vertiginous rise to the top of the viola-playing world. He's now a sought-after soloist from Switzerland to Tanglewood and, for the past decade, has been one of the Nash Ensemble's principal instrumentalists. Growing up in Buckinghamshire, Power says he began playing when he was seven, \"and I did start on the viola\" - many viola players begin on the violin, the viola's smaller and more glamorous sibling in the string family. But for Power, the viola was never a second choice, or something he was forced to play as a boy because the school orchestra needed some viola fillers - a common experience, and one reason the instrument is the butt of so many orchestral in-jokes. \"I just love the viola,\" he says. \"I find its sound very touching, because it's very close to the sound and the range of the human speaking voice. It can sing, or be dramatic, and it has a lot of emotion in it when it's played well.\"

VIOLIST William Lane will premiere two pieces, a transcription of Haydn's D Major Cello Concerto and a new work by Devonport composer Angela Polden, next Tuesday in the University of Tasmania's Stanley Burbury Theatre. When [Lionel Tertis] completed his transcription only part of the concerto was available and it was not known as Haydn's work; Lane took the Tertis transcription as a starting point, transcribing and editing the remaining parts of the concerto unknown to Tertis.

Not exactly single-handedly, but with the members of what became known as a mighty triumvirate - composer and viola player, Paul Hindemith, and British violist Lionel Tertis - Primrose brought the humble and much-maligned instrument out of the closet, into the limelight, and onto the world's stage as a virtuoso instrument in its own right. [William Primrose]'s father, John, was a violinist in the Scottish Orchestra, now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as teaching the instrument. Young William took up the violin at four and, clearly, took to it like a duck to water. By the time he was 12 he had made numerous concert appearances in Glasgow, including (allegedly, as the RSNO is unable to trace the performance in its archives) one at the St Andrew's Halls where he played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. Yehudi Menuhin notes: \"If Lionel Tertis was the first protagonist, Bill Primrose was certainly the first star of the viola.\" The largest repository of materials relating to the viola in the world bears his name: the Primrose International Viola Archive, based in Brigham Young University in the US, holds more than 4500 scores, 100s of sound recordings, original manuscripts, correspondence, research papers and photographs. There, and elsewhere, the name of Primrose is secured. It is the intention of the organisers of the international congress and mini-festival his home city acknowledge the man, the musician, and his legacy.

Her program seemed to reflect the neglect of the viola, for all three of the major works that she played were originally intended for other sound- sources. She began with Bach's First Sonata (of three) for the viola da gamba and the harpsichord. The gamba, which belongs to another family of strings, is cello-size and is often replaced here by the cello. Bach had in mind a more delicate balance than that available to viola and piano, and the latter instrument tended to dominate.

It seems strange that England, a nation with no significant history of string playing, should, within the space of the 20th century, have produced not only numerous exceptional players -- from Lionel Tertis and Albert Sammons to Jacqueline du Pre and Kennedy (The Artist Formerly Known As Nigel) -- but also some of the greatest music for string ensemble ever composed. Whatever the reason for this sudden flowering, music lovers can only be grateful. On Sunday afternoon, Timothy Vernon, the Lafayette String Quartet and the strings of the Victoria Symphony gave us something in the nature of a miniature survey of 20th century English string music demonstrating, in the process, just what fine players the symphony possesses. Talented Finzi and [Herbert Howells' Elegy] undoubtedly were, the opening chord of Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis proclaimed his genius in a completely unmistakable fashion. Vernon paced the piece well and handled the interplay between the two string groups and the solo quartet with finesse.