Tyler Hokanson and Dr. Claudine Bigelow, Music

William Primrose, eminent performer, pedagogue, and proponent of the viola, spent his last few years at Brigham Young University. Mr. Primrose was a colleague and former teacher of David Dalton, who was at that time professor of viola at the university. Because of Primrose’s close connection to Dalton, Primrose bequeathed many of his personal viola-related materials to the university in order to from an archive. This archive, named the Primrose International Viola Archive (or PIVA), is now the largest and most complete of its kind. It contains scores, recordings, memorabilia, and instructional materials relating to the viola.

Further, in honor of Mr. Primrose’s legacy to the viola as a solo instrument, Dr. Dalton instituted the Primrose Memorial Concert Series in 1982 (the year after Primrose’s death), with the initial recital given by violist Emanuel Vardi. Since that time more than a dozen other violists of international repute have contributed to the concert series at BYU, usually with one concert being given per year.

Each of these recitals was recorded and the recordings belong to PIVA. Unfortunately, the originals of these recordings have lain unused and unavailable in the archive. I therefore made it my project to convert these recordings to a modern audio format and make them available for general use.

This I did using BYU’s unique, top-of-the-line audio equipment. Of the original recordings, several were in analog formats, and I first converted them to a digital signal. Where necessary, I processed the recordings using a high-end, professional CEDAR noise-reduction system, then edited all of the recordings using the professional-standard Pro Tools audio editing system. Once the recitals were finished, I transferred them to compact disc to be placed in BYU’s listening library, thus making them available to library patrons. I also created archival master copies and backup digital files.

The following is a list of artists whose recitals were included in the preservation project:

1984 Toby Appel
1985 Cynthia Phelps
1986 Paul Neubauer
1987 Csaba Erdelyí
1989 Donald McInnes
1990 Patricia McCarty
1992 Marie-Thérese Chailley
1993 Roberto Diaz
1994 Paul Coletti
1995 Pamela Goldsmith (actually performed in 1994)
1996 Yitzhak Schotten
1997 Joseph de Pasquale (actually performed in 1996)
1998 Jerzy Kosmala
1999 Paul Neubauer (again)
2000 Lawrence Power
2001 Lars Anders Tomter

The first two recitals (Emanuel Vardi in 1982 and Joseph de Pasquale in 1983) were not available—whether lost or were simply not recorded, no one is certain. Years 1988 and 1991 were not included because they were not performed by a visiting artist. Otherwise all recordings have been converted from their source—including 7-inch reel-to-reel tapes, cassette, audio CD, and digital audio tape formats—and edited for general use. In many cases original recording quality was excellent, and in nearly all cases musicianship was phenomenal.