JAVS Fall 2005

ners throughout the disc. T hey deliver the three duos with end1u siasm and strong ensemble playing.

but certainly the more familiar ones all date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Trios for viola, clarinet, and pi ano by Mozart, Schumann , and Bruch as well as Bruch's ou rstand ing concerto for viola and clarinet ail attest co the wonderful sonority achieved by pairing d1e instrwnents. On this disc, composers Alexandros Kalogeras, Michalis Adamis, and Dinos Constantinides offer th ree different bur engaging approaches to the clarinet/viola partnership. Kalogeras' Music for C larinet and Viola (2003) is a set of four short etudes of a relacively simple canon ic nature. Though designed as edu cational piece for usc by the com poser's wife, the duos, like Bartok's, have a great deal of musical worrb In Eptaha, 1989, Michalis Adamis evokes traditional music of the Greek island Rhodes. The seven part work features the clarinet and viola trading modal melodic cle ments. The repetitive quali ty and simple harmonies further empha size the duet's foll

1960s. Violist Pilder and Easley as pianist make an excellent paring. Tight ensemble, arciculacion, and clear presentation of compositional structure mal

Viola Solo

Music or Atar Arad, J .S. Bach, Corigliano, Andrew Waggoner, Stravinsky, Paola Prestini , and Krzyszrof Penderecki

Meli a Warras, viola

Fleur de Son Classics 2004 FDS 57962 www. Aeurdeson.com

The youngAmerican violist Melia Watras has a passion for contempo rary viola music and d1is debut solo album cer-rainly delivers on d1at account. The disc begins wid1 the Sonata for Viola Solo by At~u· Arad, wid1 whomWatt·as studied. O d1er eroiles. . .(Hills Among Stars), wri t ten for Wcmas, John Corigliano's Fancy on a Bach Air, and Paola Prcstini 's Sympad1ique. Also includ ed are Stravinsky's Elegie and Penderrecki's Cadenza per viola solo. T his is an interesting and. ambi tious program of solo works per formed with a high level of polish and technical assuredness. Atar Arad's Sonata evokes middle-east ern and eastern Emopean music th rough its usc of pitch bending, modal melodies, and imp rovisa tional style. The second movement, Alia Btdgm·ese, is particularly mem orable and was influenced by Arad's childhood spent in a Bulgarian emigre community in Israel. new works include Andrew Waggoner's Collines parmi

Samprovruakis and Georgoras prove equally accomplished pm·t

Works featuring viola and clarinet are nothing new in the repertory,

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