1934-09-10Tianjin, Chinamale

Improvisation and Cadenza, for Viola

Dedicated to Peter Komlos.
Instrument List
Viola
Year (created)
1964/1995
Playing time
5 Min. 30 sec.  –  6 Min.
Difficulty level
Advanced
Informationen
In the very early 60s, soon after returning to Australia after my postgraduate studies in the USA at the San Francisco Conservatory, I decided to write a cello concerto. Unfortunately, I was green behind the ears and totally unprepared for this difficult task. After sketching a certain amount of the piece, I simply had to give up.
Some years later the Swiss cellist, Raffaele Altwegg, asked me for a solo piece. I remembered the fragmentary cello concerto and, in 1969, extracted material from it to create the Improvisation and Cadenza. The 'Improvisation' part represents the thematic material of the first movement; the 'Cadenza' is more-or-less as it was in the unfinished work, as is the wind-up after it.
Genres
Viola solo
Literature
Ewald · Directory «Musik für Bratsche», CH, 2013
Publisher
Wirripang, 2010