As a violinist and a violist, I have long enjoyed playing duets between the two, Mozart’s examples being of course the cornerstone of the genre. Written for my friends Miya Saito-Beckman and Nicholas Sharma, my sonata for violin and viola explores the delight of the two-instrument, two-person interaction, and tries, with minimal forces, to capture a large variety of colors and feelings, with a certain character of implying much rather than directly stating things. The “Four Poems” in the title are secret, confessional little poems I wrote after the music, characterizing what parts of my life experience each movement seemed to be responding to. The first movement begins with a chilly-yet-tender slow introduction. An energetic but lyrical Allegro follows, somehow evoking both Brahms and Prokofiev, and tense with development. The second movement Minuet and Trio is pure chamber music, delighting in the interaction of the instruments—this is my personal favorite to play. Mvts. 3 and 4 are much darker than the first two. Mvt. 3 has a sense of grief about it, beginning as it does with a mournful viola solo, after which it explores the delicate combination of muted violin and viola pizz. The final movement has a fiery quality, fanciful, yes, but also nervous, even neurotic.
Sonata-for-Violin-and-Viola-Score
Composer/Teacher/Scholar/Performer