JAVS Spring 2001

AN OVERVIEW OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY VIOLA WORKS, PART I

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these compositions. [New York Piedmont Music; sole selling agent: Marks Music Corp., NY, 1967} In his Duo for Viola and Piano (1960), Lionel Nowak made several changes involving registrations, tempo modifications, deletions, octave reinforcements and displacement of cer tain passages. Hopefully these alterations were conveyed to his publisher, Composers Facsimile Edition (Pioneer Editions, Inc.). It is a twelve and one-half minute composition in three movements-Prelude, Passacaglia, and Scherzo. [New York: American Composers Alliance, 1985} In 1960 Hall Overton wrote his Sonata for Viola and Piano dedicated to Walter Trampler. It is an eighteen-minute work without breaks and it holds the audience from beginning to end. Mr. Trampler must have been delighted not only to premiere this piece but also to record it. [New York: Composers Facsimile Edition, 1960} Not too well known is the Sonata for Viola Solo, Op. 12, by George Perle, written in Chicago in 1942. There are no bar lines in this work, which allows the interpreter elasticity in phrasing. In 1965 Mr. Perle wrote a Solo Partita for Violin and Viola in which the first movement (Prelude) and the third movement (Courante) are played on the viola and the sec ond, fourth and fifth movements (Allemande, Sarabande and Finale) are played on the violin. This work was written for Irving Ilmer, an artist equally proficient on both instruments. [Bryn Mawr, PA: Theodore Presser, 1967} The Infanta Marina (Reflections on a poem by Wallace Stevens) for Viola and Piano by Vincent Persichetti is his Opus 83. It was commissioned by the Walter W Naumburg Foundation and the copyright date is 1960. Mr. Persichetti was not only one of the finest composition teachers in this country; he was also a great champion of the viola. This piece lasts a little over ten minutes and possesses a lyrical elegance that makes the viola glow. [Bryn Mawr, PA: Elkan-Vogel 1960} A much later opus, Parable for Solo Viola, (Parable XVI) Op. 130, bears a 1975 copyright date. Here, too, Mr. Persichetti's ability to pres ent the viola in a most elegant light shines forth. His directions in Italian are so unex pected and charming, e.g., "con innocenza''; they stimulate the interpreter's imagination. [Bryn Mawr, PA: Elkan-Vogel 1915}

Raoul Pleskow's Soliloquy for Viola Solo (1983) is a thorny but well-crafted short piece making use of some very sudden dynamic con trasts. It is quite short (under five minutes), and I would suggest it be used between two longer compositions on a viola recital. Claire Polin's Serpentine: Lyrical Instances for Solo Viola and Imaginary Dancer ( 1965) was premiered at New York City's Donnell Library in December of 1967 as part of a Composers' Forum concert; however, the word "Imagin ary'' was deleted from the title after the com poser consented to allow a real-life dancer to interpret the solo viola rendering and the bless ings and consent of the Composers' Forum ensued. [New York: Seesaw Music Corp., 1972} Marga Richter finished her Suite for Solo Viola in 1962. It consists of nine fairly short movements and the entire Suite's duration runs about seven and one-half minutes. It was always well received. I found it a most original composition. [Manuscript} Elliott Schwartz's Suite for Viola and Piano was completed in June of 1963. During the New York season of 1967, it was performed twice, once at Lincoln Center and again at Carnegie Recital Hall, where it received favor able criticism in the New York Times. Revisiting this nine-minute work in 1992 with the com poser at the piano, I found that it improves with age and would enhance any viola recital. It has four short movements. [St. Louis: Norruth Music, 1988} In 1985 Mr. Schwartz composed Three Inventions on a Name for solo viola. The three short movements are Soliloquy, Dance, and Machine. The total time is about seven min utes. In this work fermata silences occur where the composer requests intensity (during the silences) which succeed in a compelling way to rivet the attention of the audience because of the absence of pulsation and the charged "freezing" of the performer. Sonata for Viola Unaccompanied by Walter Edmond Sear was written in 1961 and pre miered at New York's Town Hall in 1964. This is a very substantial seventeen-minute composi tion consisting of seven movements. The fifth movement is a Chaconne. [Manuscript} A Sonata for Viola Alone (1955) by Jose Serebrier was published by Southern Music Company and copyrighted 1965. There appear

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