DESCRIPTION:
Recorded March 3, 2014 in Duncan Recital Hall, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University
Note from the composer:
In early 2009, conductor Kirk Smith commissioned me to write a short piece for unaccompanied viola, as a graduation gift for his daughter Yvonne. What a great dad! Kirk also sent me recordings of Yvonne playing Hindemith and Bach, and I was very excited to write a new piece for Yvonne who brings passion and precision in equal strong doses.

SPARK is just a short spark of an idea, designed to peak and conclude within 2 minutes. It has a lot of gritty drive, a polymetric parody of the Bach Suite that I had heard Yvonne play, some flavorings from funk and from the 19th-century German masters, and in the long run is a series of build-ups into a romantic tune that finally blossoms as the coda.

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