"Sonata for Viola"

Viola and Piano

Here are some excerpts of this piece (electronic demo)...

This was my first-ever commission for a piece of chamber music for a string instrument! Pensacola Symphony's then-principal violist, Jim Hurley, was moved by another piece of mine whose performance he attended and he asked me to write a "meaty" piece for his instrument. This was the result.

The work is in three movements and draws from some rather unorthodox inspirations ranging from movie music to computer games. The tempo arrangements are also a bit unorthodox. The first movement is a pretty straightforward sonata-allegro but the second movement is a fast scherzo with a much slower trio section and the third movement is moderately-paced march. The overall tonal center of the work is C Major (with the middle movement being in G minor and later F Major)

This piece was premiered by Jim and pianist Cate Doss at the annual Pensacola ComposerFest held at Pensacola State College.

Scores

Sonata for Viola

Set of parts (PDFs) - $20