JAVS Spring 2010

poking fun at), and he does it in the most interestingly quirky and humorous way. Two Pieces in Spanish Style , inspired by Kimber’s recent trip to Spain, is also a very attractive, somewhat lighthearted, but serious work. I hear some subtle influ ences of Ravel’s Bolero , Chabrier’s Espana , and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol —it is actually quite wonderful to hear all of these subtle influences wrapped up into one viola quartet! Viola Fight Song is a very humor ous piece written in a 6/8 march time that mimics the college fight songs typically heard at football games, but with the tunes being from best-loved themes from our viola solo repertoire such as: Berlioz’s Harold in Italy , Brahms’s Concerto, Bartók’s Concerto, J. C. Bach/Casadesus’s Concerto, and J. S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 (Gigue). I hope we hear this work at a viola congress dinner party soon! All of Michael Kimber’s music is available through the website at: http://m_kimber.tripod.com/mk music.html House of Dawn Difficulty: 4/5 Duration: 8 minutes Dedication: Timothy Deighton Premiere: Nov. 2, 2008, Sage Theater (New York City) by the Penn State Viola Ensemble Sonata in E-flat, Stamitz’s Concerto in D, Telemann’s

The following are some notes sub mitted by the composer about this piece: Its inspiration is drawn from the wonderful novel, House Made of Dawn by the Native American author N. Scott Momaday. Dr. Momaday was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this novel in 1969. The novel tells the story of a young American Indian man, Abel, home from the war and caught between the world of his heritage and the modern world. I was struck particu larly by the description of music as a pervasive voice in his Native American society. The following pas sage best describes that pervasive quality and the artistic response leading to my piece: “The drummer was there, on a rooftop, still beating on the drum, slowly, exactly in time, with only a quick nearly imperceptible motion of the hand, standing perfectly still and even eyed, old and imper turbable. Just there, in sight of him, the deep vibration of the drum seemed to Angela scarcely louder, deeper, than it had been an hour before and a half mile away, when she was in a room in the rectory, momentarily alone with it and borne upon it. And it should not have seemed less had she been beyond the river and among the hills; the drum held sway in the valley, like the breaking of thunder far away. Echoing on and on in a region out of time.” House Made of Dawn , N. Scott Momaday. Harper and Row, 1968.

By Michael Kimber (b. 1945)

Since I have started writing the New Music Review column for JAVS, I have really enjoyed get ting to know Kimber’s music, and I am truly in awe and amazement at his ability to continually pro duce wonderful music for our instrument. Michael has been active with his group, the Iowa City Viola Quartet, and he has a number of new compositions for that ensemble. In true Kimber fashion, the style of each work is greatly varied; it seems he takes great joy in dipping his feet in as many different styles as possible. For violists seeking new music for their own viola quartet or fun read-through pieces as part of the program for your local viola socie ty event, these Kimber pieces are a must-have. I’m Lost without My Beautiful Viola and I Really Love to Play Viola seem to be written as a set and composed as if they are arrangements of popular “sappy” tunes. However, I believe these are actually “wordless” tunes that Kimber composed (the hint was “Lyrics by (?)” under the compos er’s name). The melody is entirely in the first viola part in both of these works. Three Quirky Little Pieces has three movements: Rambling Rag (ala Joplin), Wandering Waltz (ala J. Strauss) and Misbehaving March (ala Sousa) where Kimber enjoys taking Dadaism to a new extreme. The pieces sound remarkably like the composer who Kimber is paying homage to (or

I found this comparatively serious work very captivating yet sub

By Marvin Lamb (b. 1946)

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