JAVS Fall 1989

but midway through trying the passage, Tertis stopped, saying that he could tell from the composer's face that he didn't like it! Harding says that Tertis was most gracious and never mentioned it again. Next came a string quartet, which he scrapped after a poor first performance (ltit never had a chance!") and a Concertante for Viola Quintet, dedicated to Tertis. A Sonatina for Two Violas dates from 1951, and a Kammersymphonie for Nine Violas, now called Nonet, from 1956, which Harding refers to as Ita difficult piece." None of Harding's viola works are easy to play. He writes for the full range of the modern viola, and in some of the larger ensemble pieces, there are difficult "corners" to be negotiated, much rubato and intricate nuances of dynamics. An ensemble unused to playing together--after all, there are not too many full-time viola ensembles in the world--might save a lot of time by employing a conductor to help with rehearsals. Hiatus and. Production It was another twenty-two years before Harding composed the Idyll for Twelve Solo Violas, dedicated to Thomas Tatton. The inspiration for this piece came rather surprisingly from a blackbird's song. Harding got up one morning before dawn and went into the garden, "just as the birds were getting busy." Inspired by the blackbird's singing, he began to whistle along. The blackbird was evidently surprised, for it got half way through its next song and suddenly stopped. Harding then decided to tell the bird that "if it didn't mind, he'd go back into the house for pencil and paper and that the bird should stay right there." He happily copied a dozen or so tunes and used two of them in the Idy11. After the Idyll came a spate of viola works--three solo pieces with piano, a Sonata, based on a quotation from a poem by Charles Kingsley, a Legend, which could also be played by a horn, and "moonlit Apples," inspired by a poem of John Drinkwater. Three ensemble pieces followed, a Sextet, "Rondo Capricioso," a Septet, "Sunset Paradise," from 1986, and "Renata da Capa" for Ten Violas from 1987. Harding confesses that at eighty-six he

doesn't have as much energy as he used to, but he would still like to write for eight and eleven violas to complete the cycle. Given the medium, opportunities to perform the ensemble works are infrequent; however, the real problem might lie in finding the score and parts. Their extremely limited marketability puts publication by any major company out of the question. Your music dealer does not stock them, neither will you find them in your music library. A few photo copies are owned by colleagues in the U.K. and U.S.A. who have taken part in performances, and the viola world is small enough for you to track them down with a little persistence. Perhaps this is a case for a project funded by one or more of the string organizations such as the AVS? A private edition, made from the photographed original scores, or printed by a computer, could be made available to libraries and interested parties. Making this beautiful music accessible to future generations of violists would be an admirable aim and an attractive project for someone with time, initiative and expertise. Any takers? Philip Clark is Assistant Professor ofViola and Violin at Ithaca College, New York. His principal studies were with Nannie Jamieson at the Guildhall School of Music in London and with the late Peter Schidlof of the Amadeus Quartet .•

7

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS Stokowski and Barbirolli

by

Wayne Crouse

When I arrived in Houston, Texas in October of 1951 to assume my new position as assistant principal violist of the Houston Symphony, I was quickly introduced to the world of Texas hyperbole. Texans loved to brag about anything to do with their state: the fact that it was larger than the entire country of France, the vast number of oil wells, cattle, cowboys, the Cadillacs, and nearly anything any other state might aspire to glorify, Texas had, except bigger and better. Pretty much anything, that is, except cultural events, until the Van