JAVS Fall 2024

One of the early steps in this album’s genesis was the research by David Bynog on the many competition entries of the 1919 Berkshire competition, and finding contemporary works to Rebecca Clarke’s, including Dorothy Fox’s sonata. The sonata by Marcelle Fanny Henriette Soulage was written in 1919, and while it is unclear if it was entered into the Berkshire competition, it was certainly a contemporary work of Rebecca Clarke’s. Violist Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot additionally did research on the Paris Conservatorie’s Pièces de Concours from the early twentieth century, which led to the discovery of Fantaisie by Hélène Fleury Roy, 1910. The album opens with the Passacaglia by Rebecca Clarke (1941), drawing the listener in with a sorrowful reflectiveness. The sonata by Dorothy Fox, possibly written in the 1920s, receives its world premiere recording on this album. Up until now, little has been known about Fox, who was a member of the Society of Women Musicians, of which Rebecca Clarke was a member. The first movement opens with a similar doleful character as the Clarke Passacaglia, but the second movement features prominent arpeggiations passed between the viola and piano, with the last movement an autumnal reflection that seems to quietly evaporate. Marcelle Soulage wrote an engaging scherzo and rondo for her sonata, which are especially playful and full of character and capriciousness. The album ends with the Fantaisie by Hélène Fleury Roy, who was the first woman admitted to the Prix de Rome composer competition in 1903, eventually winning a prize in 1904. The work opens with a rhapsodic line from the viola, dramatically developing and fluttering about until ending in an ominous adagio . All four works demand technical virtuosity from both Gerling and Kashiwagi, as well as large contrasts in character and sound. Gerling brings a rich lower range tone to many of the works, while Kashiwagi provides a wonderful fluidity to the challenging piano parts. All four works merit a listen, and the scholarly research behind encircling and its connection to Rebecca Clarke (thus encircling) is absolutely worth a listen.

Breaking Glass Ceilings Music by Unruly Women SBOV Music Rose Wollman, viola Dror Baitel, piano https://sbovmusic.com/breaking-glass-ceilings

Breaking Glass Ceilings by Rose Wollman binds both the familiar and unfamiliar worlds of the viola. With the Rebecca Clarke Sonata as the centerpiece of the album, Wollman freely explores the greater viola sound through the works by Florence Price, Libby Larsen, and Amy Beach. Elfentanz by Florence Price opens the work as a playful showpiece—interestingly, this piece was also performed by many of the participants of the 2024 Primrose Competition. Libby Larsen’s Viola Sonata (2001) follows the playful jauntiness, consisting of three movements: Flow, Drift, and Breathless . The first movement, Flow , ignites a wave of jazzy syncopated elements juxtaposed with legato viola lines; the second movement, Drift , is an exploration of stasis, while Breathless, the final movement, is fraught with anxious relentlessness both in harmony and rhythm just beneath the surface. The sonata is a terrific work, demanding much of its performers in terms of rhythmic precision, expressive articulations, and quick character changes; but Wollman and Baitel work like a masterful team, bounding and leaping together into the fray.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 2, Fall 2024

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