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Editor's Note:
The nine works in this anthology, composed across a period of 60 years, celebrate the viola as a virtuoso solo instrument in all its richness and stylistic ability. Arel’s Musik für Viola explores the form of the concerto cadenza filtered through a Romantic treatment of a tone row, while Tillis’s Three Showpieces takes a clearer neo-Romantic stance with driving rhythmic vitality. Where Van de Vate’s Suite eschews consistency for an eclectic and intriguing collection of stylistic variations, Davidson’s Magyar Rondo and Philo’s Three Dances adhere to strict, lush sound worlds. McDonald’s Sokari Versions, based on the Sri Lankan folk play, is a comparatively short showpiece that nonetheless displays the range of the viola. The final three works—Liptak’s Edge of Amber, Froom’s Shades of Red, and Gibson’s Fire—share a propensity for flashy virtuosity; Liptak with sparkling harmonics, Froom with accelerating technique, and Gibson with aggressive arpeggiation and double-stops.
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Bülent Arel: Musik für Viola (1957)
Frederick Tillis: Three Showpieces (1966)
Nancy Van de Vate: Suite for Solo Viola (1975)
Matthew Davidson: Magyar Rondo (1985)
Gary Philo: Three Dances for Viola (1987)
John McDonald: Sokari Versions (2006)
David Liptak: Edge of Amber (2012)
David Froom: Shades of Red (2014)
Robert Gibson: Harmony of Tensions: Fire (2020)
Editor: Henry Gale