JAVS Fall 2016

previously written, and while he hopes to write more viola works, he is waiting to see “what sparks it.”

Michael’s Strata: for 9 violas + optional percussion , which was written and released on video in 2014, has since been performed by youth ensembles in Mexico and Chile and in various venues in New York State and at Oberlin by the Crane Viola Ensemble in June 2016. Recently, Michael has been working on several pieces for viola quartet, two of which are arrangements of folk songs. For works like these, Michael starts by doing extensive research into the time period and the stories behind the music so that he can express matching feelings in his viola arrangements. Shenandoah , for example, is about a fur trader who does not get the girl of his dreams in the end. Michael tried to reflect the pathos the trader felt in his viola quartet arrangement. In Simple Gifts , Michael’s research led him to discover that, though this piece is often associated with a hymn-like character, it actually had its origins as a dance song. Using the dance scene in the movie Tangled as an inspiration, Michael tried to recreate a dance-like joy in his viola quartet-arrangement of the piece. His most recent viola project is Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer , and so he has been researching the composer and his background, the time period, and the meaning of the lyrics so he can “get to the heart” of the song in his arrangement for viola quartet.

Leon’s first work emphasizing the viola was Variations on a Theme by Edward Elgar , which was premiered at the viola congress in Portugal in 2014. Also in 2014, he composed the soundtrack for a short film using a work titled Raga in D for Viola and Drone Box . Working directly with the performer to explain exactly the sound that was wanted, Leon wrote only a very loose score, which he does not intend to publish. His latest viola composition is called A Walk on the Wild Side and was commissioned by violist Alistair Rutherford. Leon enjoyed writing a piece for a player with “wide capabilities.” Looking to the past as is his wont, Leon took inspiration from the first of Bach’s Three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba. He explains, “The piano part stays as a constant throughout, but the viola part gradually changes each bar until none of the original Bach is left. The effect should be like slowly peeling a sticker away from its adhesive backing.”

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 32, No. 2, Fall 2016