2024 Primrose International Viola Competition & American Viola Society Festival Program Book

2024 Primrose International Viola Competition & American Viola Society Festival Schedule of Events — FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2024

9:15 am – 10:15 am

AVS Shared Recital Thayer Hall

Musique de France

Deux Pièces Pour Alto et Piano, Op.5

Louis Vierne (1870-1937)

I. Le Soir

II. Légende

Hsiaopei Lee, viola Michael Bunchman, piano

Archaios for Solo Viola

Philippe Hersant (b.1948)

Pavane for Solo Viola

Vinciane Béranger, viola

Sonate en ut pour Saxophone

Fernande Decruck

Alto et orchestre

(1896-1954)

I. Très modéré, expressif II. Noël III. Fileuse IV. Nocturne et Rondel

Hsiaopei Lee, viola Michael Bunchman, piano

Tango for Viola and Piano

Graciane Finzi (b.1945)

Vinciane Béranger, viola Michael Bunchman, piano

French organist Louis Vierne was an active composer and performer in the early twentieth century. Born nearly blind, Vierne showed his musical talent at an early age. He was recommended by César Franck to study organ and later attended the Paris Conservatory. Composed during 1894-95, Deux Pièces pour alto et piano , Op. 5 is Vierne’s first chamber music work while he was a student at the Paris Conservatory. “Le soir” is intimate, delicate, and lyrical, while “Légende” is a light movement with Sicilian rhythm. The work received its public performance by the dedicatee Victor Balbreck and composer on the piano in Paris in 1895. Organist and composer Fernande Breilh-Decruck wrote more than 250 pieces, but many of them were not published. Her music was forgotten soon after her death until recent years. Decruck received formal training at the Paris Conservatory. She moved to the United States as an organ recitalist for several years, moved back to France, and later accepted a professorship at the Toulouse Conservatory. Sonata in C-sharp minor was written in 1943, one year after she resigned the teaching position, moved back to Paris, and devoted herself to composition. Decruck created two versions of this work – one with alto saxophone or viola and piano, and the other with orchestra. The composition, dedicated to virtuoso Marcel Mule, has four movements: a sonata-form first movement, a slow lyrical second movement, a scherzo-like “Fileuse” (spinning), and the last movement titled Nocturne et Final. The piece is full of colors, rich harmonies, and flashing sounds.

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