Six Short Pieces for Viola and Piano
1. Portal
2. Even Song
3. Rhapsody
4. Ballad
5. Dirge
6. Duet
Commissioned by Hsin-Yun Huang and Da Camera of Houston
Program Note
According to tradition, a mid-or late 19th century instrumental Romance — or Romanza is a shortish composition of predominantly melodic nature, with a slight leaning toward the sentimental.
In several European languages, such as German, French — and Danish — the word for novel, i.e. an unfolding drama in writing, is roman, and although there is nothing literary about my six Romances, each piece tells its own story open to individual inner interpretation.
No. 1 PORTAL forms the opening chapter, so to speak, paving the way fort the second movement, named EVEN SONG; maybe it is just a simple tune heard at sunset, and who knows, perhaps the melody is carried from far away, over the hills from inside the village church….
Titles such as RHAPSODY, BALLAD and DIRGE (song of mourning) immediately reveal the nature and mood of the music to come, whereas the concluding piece DUET is slightly more “mysterious”… in a classic duet two instruments in question, (or more likely: voices) complement each other benevolently. In the present case, however, the viola and the piano both stand firm, protecting their own turf — and: “the twain shall never meet!”
The piece is vert short indeed, it just stops, leaving the listener to finish the “story” in his or her own imagination. A true open ending.
Poul Ruders
September 2011