Viola Today

Karen Phillips - Viola Today

Viola (English), alto (French), Bratsche (German). Three names for an entity treated as a non-entity. The whims of tradition want to reduce its role to part filling; its tone has been described nasal, its technique awkward, and its players have been pushed aside as frustrated violinists.

No wonder we did not find ourselves in a treasure trove when selecting the compositions for this album. ( I can hear the outcry of countless composers whose viola pieces have been gathering dust on the shelves.) We were not trying, to be sure, to discover as many pieces as possible. A wide choice was not what we needed. The title "Viola Today" does not, therefore, have a representative meaning. It reflects only the few slices we picked from viola's life today. We would, however, like to see this record function as a manifesto for Viola's Lib and serve as a banner for all the other oppressed minorities; the Heckelphone, the Flexatone, the contrabss clarinet. . . (from the liner notes by Ilhan Mimaroglu)

The recordings of the viola version of John Cage's "Dream", "Viola" and "Spillihpnerak" on this album are premiere recordings.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Dream [composed by John Cage] {6:54}

2. Sequenza VI [composed by Luciano Berio] {12:05}

Side Two

1. Viola (open-form version) [composed by Bruno Maderna] {6:17}

2. Viola (Closed-form version) [composed by Bruno Maderna] {7:11}

3. Spillihpnerak [composed by David Bedford] {8:59}

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