Although a violist himself, Beethoven left nothing for the viola — except for the fragment of a sonata recorded here for the first time. So his contemporaries and successors have 'helped' him fill the gaps: it was Karl Xaver Kleinheinz (1765-1832) who arranged the String Trio, Op. 8, gaining Beethoven's reluctant approval; and a later musician, Friedrich Hermann (1828-1907), transformed the Septet, Op. 20, into an ambitious viola sonata. And now Paul Silverthorne, Principal Viola of the London Symphony Orchestra, expands the repertoire with his own transcription of the Horn Sonata, Op. 17.
