JAVS Fall 2007

viola with his fitther who was a renowned teacher at the Prague Conservarory, and his intimate knowledge of the viola shows immensely in this concerto. Although Feld has written a few other works for viola previously in his life, is seems that he has chosen ro join the ranks of many great composer who have for some reason saved writing a major viola work the last or one of the lasr works of their life (i.e. Bartok Viola Co1uerto, Shosrakovich Viola Sonata, Brahms Viola Sonatas). My belief is that these composers were look ing ro express themselves with a darker sonority to reflect possibly the reflections of the composer's own death. This work is wrinen with dodecaphonic (12-rone) principles, which I suspected on my first listening and then confirmed by analyzing the score and reading the program notes !Tom my recording of this work [Praga Oigitals PRO/DSD 250 239] with Raphael Oleg and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra. I have to admit a bir of a prejudice against dodeca phonic music (as I think h.isrory is proving thar these works have generally Jess of a popular appeal), bur lis tened ro it with as much of an open mind that I could, and I did find myself enjoying several aspectS of the work, much on the same level as I enjoy the works like the Henze Viola Sonata or the Roslavets Viola Sonatas, especially in some of the wonderful col ors Feld creates with his orchestration. Ir is certainly a cerebral work, and the performer will have ro live with it for a long rime ro fuJJy comprehend ir. It is also extremely challenging, bur by no means unplayable as proved by the well done recording men tioned here. He also seems ro be abandoning the idea of " l2-rone =non-ronal" as the work is dearly in " 0 " with the sustained nores in the bass. The second movement features an extensive and anraccive cadenza that utilizes several virtuoso techniques like collegno, left hand pizzicato, and several natural harmonics. The ending of this movement was strikingly "very cute" as the whole movement is so incredibly chal lenging and heavily involved, and he tosses the ending off at the end with some "burton-like" pizzicaros that evaporate inro the thin air.

IS 36th International Viola Congress June 4 -8, 2008 Nancy Buck, host

2008 Primro e International Viola Competition June 2- 8, 2008

Convened by the International Viola Society and hosted by the Herberger College School of Music at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.

~rbergerCollege of the Arts

I highly recommend thar violists ger ro know this work, and it is certainly an appealing choice for the

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

www voolacongress2008 com

www promrosecompetotoon org

NlJMBER 2

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