JAVS Fall 2003

NE

By Kenneth Martinson

music, but rather to evoke images in the younger person's mind, to help stimulate creativity. I was also reminded of the Vaughan Williams 6 Studies on English Folksong. One unfortunate challenge of these pieces is how to successfully inter pret them as a group without sounding monotonous, as the movements are similar. The Vaughan Williams has various gra dations of slower tempo markings for the first five movements {Adagio, Andante sostenuto, Larghetto, Lento, Andante tran quillo). Seven of the nine move ments in this work hover around the Andante-Moderato tempo area; the other two are a little faster. Another commonality between the Vaughan Williams and the Markl is that they are both written with flexible solo instru mentation.The Markl is available for violin or cello, while the Vaughan Williams is available for virtually all of the orchestral instru ments. When playing this work, the music seem£ to flatter itself on the viola quite nicely, it didn't strike me as a transcription at all. Some particularly enjoyable move ments can be found in Morning Light, which has a soap opera/for eign film music sound, Beyond the Dunes {a very liquid, rolling, Rachmaninoff-like movement), and With You (very Andrew Lloyd Weberesque). I think it takes a lot of guts for a composer to feel secure enough with one's writing

style to be able to compose in such a tonal and intermediate fashion, and Mrs. Markl pulls off the chal lenge very successfully. Included with the published music is a CD recording of the accompaniment. This work is available through: Latham Music Ltd. www.latham-music.com (800) 645-7022 Evocation for Viola and Piano ( 1988) by jeffrey Hoover (b.l959) Difficulty: Viola part Level3/4, Piano part Level 4 Duration: 6 minutes Latin Steps forViola and Piano ( 1997) by jeffrey Hoover (b.l959) Difficulty: Viola part Level 4, Piano part Level 5 Duration: 10 minutes Commissioned by the Taz-Wood Dance Company Here we have two works by Illinois composer, Jeffrey Hoover, that I would definitely recom mend violists look at. Both works are freshly written, with very interesting sounds. The Evocation is quite successful in its suggestion of images and thoughts. It has a very pensive mood and one might associate it with Elliot Carter. The har monies heard, which might seem a little foreign at first, seem nor mal after they return a few times. There is nothing offensive about the work, and it will certainly be

Stringsong for Viola and Piano (2002) by Kim Markl (b. 1961) 1. Memories ofYou 2. Morning Light 3. Beyond the Dunes 4. The Lighthouse 5. With You 6. Silent Stars 7. Waves 8. Lullaby 9. In the Dark Difficulty: Viola part Level 2, Piano part Level 3/4 Duration: 25 minutes This collection of short pieces fills a void in the viola literature that has needed to be filled for a very long time. The collection forms a pleasant group of 9 original short pieces written intentionally at an intermediate playing level for ped agogical purposes. They are not "etude-like", but refreshing, almost "popular" style pieces. Both the viola and piano parts are easily playable. These works will prove to be attractive to a younger student, and at the same time, could be used as "quick put together" pieces for a spontaneous encore or special occasiOn. These works quickly reminded me of Bartok's Mikrokosmos for beginning pianists, in their sheer practicality. The tides of the movements were (I believe inten tionally) not named to describe the

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