45th International Viola Congress 2018

Venue:  Sociëteit MATRIX

Programme:
"The Spectral Viola" - music by James Tenney:
- Harmonium #1 for solo viola and tape (6'30)
- Two Koans and a Canon (17.30')
- Blues for Annie (3.30')

Programme Notes:
Viola players need visionary composers who find new ways of composing for us, so that we can explore together new ways to perform. One of these visionary composers are James Tenney.

Tenney has been an inspired teacher and example for many, and we are lucky that he loved the viola. For his wife and muse at the time, the violist Ann Holloway, he wrote several pieces, amongst them Canon and Blues for Annie. The latter is a remake for viola of an old song; No More Good Water by Jaybird Coleman.
The harmonica and the voice are imitated rather precise by the viola. As the old harmonicas at that time were in 'just tuning' this is a very good piece to explore just intonation. Canon- third movement of Two Koans and a Canon is a very melodic piece as well, with the tape joining in as a happy ghost partner, and it is also the concept of melody that these three pieces have in common, which makes the programme attractive and easy to listen to for every audience.