The viola is in nature an undersized pansy. In art it is an oversized violin with a tubby, whiskey-contralto voice. Except for low-moaning the inner voices of symphonies and string quartets, it is not good for much. Most of the time it merely plays pah to the cello's oom. Most of the people who pull horsehair bows over its goatgut strings are ex-violinists who failed to make the grade.
No such second-grader is athletic, tooth-brush-mustached William Primrose, who plays the principal viola part in Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony. Last week Primrose temporarily added himself...