JAVS Fall 1993

55

NEWWORKS

Elegy was premiered by Patricia McCarty and pianist Ellen Weckler in 1990. The piece lasts a bit over eight minutes, is broody, and attractive in many ways. The tessitura of both viola and piano is low, with the majority of the piano writing using two bass clefs, and the lower string sonorities of the viola definitely emphasized. The work begins with an introduction for both instruments followed by a cadenza for viola alone. The bulk of the piece involves a series of phrases which sound improvisa tory, usually six to eight measures long, during which the two instruments engage in dialogue, usually with the piano in a second ary role. The piano writing is quite sparse, so the viola can be soft, eloquent, and non competitive. Cadences are usually established by longer notes in the viola part. Now and then a recognizable theme or motive appears, but mostly this music seems to grow out of These two works have a striking amount in parallel, not the least of which is their common publisher and relatively recent publication. Both are about six minutes long and make use of conventions (cliches?) of the day, such as showing accelerando with diverging beams, avoiding the feeling of meter, and using extremes in dynamics. Both , are written in such a way as to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the viola. From My Garden is edited by David Sills, who has provided helpful fingerings, bowings and other explanations that seem to make the composer's intentions clear. The piece is notated in three-four time with the quarter at

itself using figuration and rhythmic cells as unifying elements. The harmonic style is atonal, but not abrasively dissonant. Toward the end, a tonal center on A-natural emerges. The viola writing is traditional with nothing more daring than a passage of artificial harmonics. There are some passages that require rapid and unusual finger pat terns. Bowings and fingerings, supplied by Patricia McCarty, are most helpful. The rhythmic notation is traditional and extremely detailed. Although the work is presented in manuscript notation, the spacing is precise, and it is easy to read. This is a moody, somber, interesting short work with moments of real beauty, couched in a late twentieth-century idiom that is fresh and apparently not derivative at all. It should be a useful addition to a violist's repertory. 48. But there are rows of grace notes to be played "as fast as possible." The form looks like traditional incipient two-part, complete with double bar, and the return of opening material. There are many harmonics (with the intended pitches clearly shown, which is not the case with many composers), and much left-hand pizzicato. The melodic material, if that is the proper word, seems designed to answer the question "How many ways can I present and ornament a single pitch?" We start with a D-natural, as a harmonic, in three octaves, with different dynamics; then an F-natural, now with a few grace-notes, then B-flat and G-natural. Now we're in bar 31. It's an original approach;