Composer: Rebecca Clarke
Performer: Vinciane Béranger, Dana Ciocarlie, Helene Collerette, David Louwerse
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Aparté
Catalogue: AP289
Release: 2022
Size: 1.03 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Viola Sonata
01. I. Impetuoso
02. II. Vivace
03. III. Adagio
04. Morpheus
05. Passacaglia on an Old English Tune for viola and piano
Two Pieces for Viola & Cello
06. I. Lullaby
07. II. Grotesque
08. Irish Melody (Emer’s Farewell to Cucullain “Londonderry Air”)
09. Dumka for Violin, Viola & Piano
10. Chinese Puzzle for Viola & Piano
Today, with the flowering of recordings aimed at rediscovering the buried treasures of past centuries, it is difficult to ignore the work of the twentieth-century composer Rebecca Clarke. If you have not yet had the pleasure of coming across it, one thing is sure: you will not easily forget it! The viola player Vinciane Béranger, along with Dana Ciocarlie, Hélène Collerette and David Louwerse, have devoted an entire recording to the works for viola of Clarke, who was both a composer and a performer – one of the foremost professional women in England.
Rebecca Clarke’s music, at the crossroads of various currents, navigates at different moments through French music, modality, British folklore, harmonic boldness and exoticism. There is, however, no pastiche: Clarke creates her own honey from these trends in order to construct a quite atypical language that is resolutely modern. From her masterly Viola Sonata to the very poetic Morpheus, and not forgetting the trio Dumka or the duet Chinese Puzzle, the performers are keen to paint the musical portrait of this iconoclastic composer. The recording is enhanced with the world premiere of Irish Melody, a long lost score that was recently rediscovered.