Viola Concerto

Abstract

This work seeks out a few different questions in each of its movements, present always though is the question of the relationship between the individual and group. This relationship comes to the fore in the genre of concerto but is present to some degree in every piece for an ensemble. The avenues taken in approaching this relationship are varied, both within the movements, but also structurally, with the use of “Interludes” as shorter solo movements for the violist, while the “Movements” focus more on the combination of instruments. Within the movements themselves, the violist at times acts as the singular primary voice, part of a group of primary voices, and, at times, even as part of the texture of the group as a whole. This relationship is explored immediately, with the opening consisting of short phrases where the violist alternates between coming out of and moving into the texture of the ensemble: a teeming, dense web of solo voices.

The relationship of tones in a harmonic context is also explored in the first movement, which uses chords that are common to functional tonality (Major Sevenths, Half-Diminished Sevenths, Dominant Ninths, etc.), but without a progression that would suggest a tonal goal. This progression is played out in full in the first section before being dramatically slowed so that the sonic nature of each chord can be drawn out and examined in the middle sections of the movement, with emphasis shifting between the chord members and intervals they create.

The interlude and second movement, meanwhile, approach pitch in a more modal light, with both natural and artificial modes being interspersed and moved between in stretches of fast, virtuosic playing. Within the movement proper, the orchestra joins in, both with winding passages of their own as well as stabs and chords that further punctuate the shifting metrical scheme. This shifts into a waltz-like inner section, with the violist being featured in an extended lyrical solo set atop the orchestra’s spiraling waltz. Eventually, the interlude and earlier material returns in the end of the piece with an extended pizzicato section and a final flurry of notes.