JAVS Fall 1995

76

a work was first premiered, who delivered a lecture on a topic that has since become cru cial to our research or which violist performed a memorable execution of a work that has never been recorded commercially. Pounds's indexes are a great contribution in document ing and making accessible information that is important to all serious violist. It is certain to be consulted frequently by students, advanced researchers and planning committees for future congresses. Perhaps its most important use is to be found in the documentation of works that have not been published or recorded but merit the attention of the larger musical

community. Pounds's organization of the text and computer listings is simple and easily comprehensible. More creative design of the computer indexes may have improved the graphic appearance of the work, but the for mat is practical and functional. Music librari ans will loath the spiral binding format and may wish to order an unbound copy, but at the same time students will appreciate the modest price.

-DavidA. Day Curator, Primrose International Viola Archive

Odd Man Out'! for solo viola, by .Ml;cll~ .. eI.;BiJ['kel~j).C)~fi;:fa.r:l: ""~.'!-1':~.,!+»>~ £4.95 a li Man Out was commissioned by the Mananan Festival Trust as the test piece

Note 1. Michael Berkeley, p. 26, in Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and Workshop Program Booklet. Port St. Mary, Isle of Man: Quine & Cubbon, 1994. There are some reiterated patterns that bring to mind children's teasing songs. The overall mood can be said to evoke childlike isolation, in the way a Strauss tone-poem imi tates emotion or action. Also like Strauss, would these images project without the title or explanation? The piece is a technical and musical challenge, to performer and audience, but it has its rewards as well. to wide changes of range that are not violistic, but possible. In measure 53, an indication of simultaneous arco and left-hand pizzicato, is vague at best. There are no editorial finger ings, which is understandable, considering the intended use. The phrasing and bowings seem to coincide as practical. At the Tertis Competition in September of 1994, a general announcement was made that the last note of measure 7 is B-natural, not A-natural as printed.

for the 1994 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, held on the Isle of Man. It was played by all fifty-two competitors. The com poser has written several pieces with titles that refer to children's games, and he makes clear that the title is not another viola joke, but is intended to help invoke feelings of isolation on the part of a child. "The music, then, is no pyrotechnic test piece but rather a challenge in interpretation and musicality.'" The work is about five minutes long and probably is considered by some violists a trial of technical facility as well as a test of twentieth-century idiom mastery. The har monic language is stubbornly dissonant and non-tonal. It makes extensive use of high tes situra and wide melodic leaps. At times it's quite lyrical, within these stylistic boundaries; careful dynamic and expression marks make the composer's intentions clear. Rhythmically conservative, the composer has not depended on the performer to do his work for him, with aleatoric or improvisational passages, as is so often the case. There are a number of uninterrupted shifts from arco to pizzicato and back, some attendant