JAVS Spring 2023

more prominent and lets the viola seep through the heavy texture in the piano part. The theme persists throughout the piece regardless of register change and transposition. Form Steve Schwartz, a Classical.net Review Contributor, lauds Perkinson when he “uses only one idea” in his work Grass: A Poem for Piano, Strings, and Percussion . 7 This simplicity allows audience members to follow the work. Perkinson says he likes “to be extremely clear” with form and his music “is pretty clear in terms of what the structures are.” 8 His Lament follows a rounded binary form: A1, A2, B1, A1, Coda. The table below defines the sections by measure numbers. This chart also denotes the section’s form as a Sentence or Period. As one can see, the lone B1 separates itself as the work’s only Period; subverting the audience’s expectations allows Perkinson to return to the primary theme without it becoming stale, as seen in Figure 3. This piece contains a formally atypical introduction and coda. Starting with Perkinson’s introduction, one can see a piano part consisting of whole notes. While the harmonic content in the piano does not relate to the later harmonic content, he nicely presents the viola’s primary theme before concealing the instrument with detailed counterpoint under the piano. Repeating the beginning before continuing to the coda leads to a quaint ending to the piece.

Figure 2. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, mm.10-12.

Consequently, Perkinson likely studied with Giannini before he composed the Lament , which uses this style. One can narrow the time he composed the Lament more by considering he transferred from New York University and stopped studying with Giannini by 1954. In 1954, he graduated with his Masters of Composition. 5 This suggests he composed the Lament between 1951-1954. Notably, he does not mention life events during this time. Furthermore, in a significant biography, he does mention his early contrapuntal period; Perkinson considers his Sinfonietta for Strings (1956) to fall in this period. 6 Similar to the Sinfonietta for Strings , he litters his Lament with counterpoint, which supports the suggestion he composed this work between 1951-1954.

Figure 3. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, mm.31-34.

Counterpoint In Figure 1, Perkinson presents the primary theme in the piano’s bass as counterpoint to the viola line. He does this throughout the work while also maintaining the intervallic integrity. One can see how the theme presents itself in both hands of the piano in Figure 2; in this example, the theme in the piano’s treble quickly dissipates to the eighth note ostinato. The minor seventh skip downward that the treble theme takes to the piano’s bass line mirrors the intervallic skip when the theme shifts from C to Bb in measure 12 and 13. This accommodates the pianist, as staying in the upper register would cause the reach to be more than an octave in the right hand otherwise. Additionally, this accommodates the violist by being in a lower range to allow the instrument to be

Figure 4. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, Rounded Binary Form chart.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

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