Sonata
For Viola and Piano
By Samuel Adler

Item Number: PR.114404450

The Sonata for Viola and Piano was composed between December 15, 1983 and January 26, 1984 and is dedicated to Atar Arad and Evelyn Brancart. I have written sonatas for many instruments including piano, violin, cello, flute, oboe and guitar in addition to this one for viola. Each of these sonatas has a different form, for each is a new adventure for me; an experience with a different friend. By the word friend I mean both a person and an instrument. Every one of the sonatas was written for a specific person and therefore reflects my perception of that particular performer's musical personality, as well as my love affair with their instrument, its timbre and their sound. The viola sonata is a pastoral work which begins rather slowly with a solo viola line; develops into a dance-like dialogue between the two instruments; abruptly stops, to pause for a slow variation of the opening viola line, before exploding into a very energetic final episode. Although there are three definite sections in this work, it is played as one movement without interruption. As was indicated above, the sections are indeed variations of one another. This does not necessarily mean only variations of the opening viola tune, but rather progressive variations; meaning that all the material introduced in the first section (up to the slow movement) is metamorphosized throughout the rest of the work. --Samuel Adler.