JAVS Spring 2006

NEW Musrc REviEWS

violist/compose r who moved to Scotland in 1989 after rece iving a Council Composer's Bursa ry. From that point o n, she has mosrly dedi cated herself to her composing. (Her viola was stolen shortl y befo re she moved ro Sco tand, so lidi fy ing this decision fo r her! ) T he Vi ola Concerto No. 2 is a rh ree-movement wo rk with all of the movements being some variant of an Andante tempo. T he language in this piece is sim ilar ro that of the Conce rto No. 1 and is also scored fo r large orchestra. Both o f these pi eces end very quierly, bringing out the somber peaceful moods of the viola. T his wo rk has been record ed by Tabca Z immermann and the Swedi sh Ch ::~ mbe r O rches tra also for release by the BIS label for the near future. Beamish has also wrirten a viol a sonata with pi ano, rwo solo sonatas, a piece for fo ur violas, and she has start ed a Viola Concerto No. 3 whi ch is being written fo r Lawrence Power. These works are all wel comed addi tions to the vio la repertoire whi ch T highly recom mend violists ro get to know. These wo rks are available though: Scottish Music Cenrre City Halls Cand le riggs Glasgow G l l NQ SCOTLAND Tel : +44 (O) 14 I 552 5222 Email: info@scottishmusiccenrre.com Web: http: //www.scottishmusiccenrre.com

ment concerto , I was also intrigued with the Aexibility of rhyrh mic usage, as she very often goes between dupl ers, triplets, quadruplets, sextuplets, and sep ruplets with ease and flair, often t imes setti ng these rhythms simultaneously in di fferent vo ic es. T he form of the wo rk is through-composed , though an arch in the scoring is apparent- it srarts and ends very th inly, with few instruments pl aying. The instrumenta tion of this concerto is for full orches tra wi rh va ri ed percussion instruments. This full sco ring is most often hea rd in the wrri sections; she is very careful to always make sure the viola ca n be hea rd by thinning the tex ture out quite a bit while the solo ist is pl aying. There are al so some in te resting chamber sections in thi s pi ece. For instance o ne sec tion calls fo r solo viola, cl arinet, and temple blocks, while another uses solo viola, solo cello, solo double bass and timpani. '1echnically this piece provides some chall enges (especially in doub le-stopping), although there is nothing unp layable. Surely lots or attenti on will have ro he paid to issues of count ing and ense rn - ble; wirh some of the intri ca te cross- rhythms in the other orches tral instrument li nes, the soloist wi II have to follow the conductor rather than vice ve rsa.

This column features recently com posed Viola Concertos.

Viola Concerto No. I ( 1995)

D ifficulry: Level 6 Durat ion: 19 minu res Dedication: Philip Dukes

Viola Concerto No. 2 44 The Seafarer" (200 I)

Andante irrequieto Andante m;J levole Andante riAessivo

Difficulty: Level 6 Durati on: 30 minutes

Dedication: Tabea Zimmermann (in memory of David Shallom)

By Sally Beamish (b. 1956)

As I li stened to the recording of rhe Beamish Vi ola Concc rw No. 1 lBTS-CD-97 1 with Phi li p Dukes solo viola and rhe Swedish Chamber O rchestra], 1 fo und myself being most intrigued with the textures and harmoni cs. I fo und rhe sounds in this co rlCer to to always be pleasant , but ye t, as I listened closely, 1 noticed the music being ve ry linearly-o rient ed (individual lines) rather than horiw ntally-o ri enred (harmoni c). These dissonances in the music never really bothered me as the Aorid language Beamish uses doesn't seem ro favo r any o ne interval ove r another. As T ana lyzed the score of this one move

Sally Beami sh is a London-born

V OLUME 22 NUMBER l ------------ 47