Composer: Rebecca Clarke
Performer: Duo Rúnya, Diana Bonatesta, Arianna Bonatesta, Gabriele Campagna
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Aevea
Catalogue: AE16008
Release: 2016
Size: 1 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Viola Sonata
01. I. Impetuoso
02. II. Vivace
03. III. Adagio
04. Lullaby
05. Lullaby on an Ancient Irish Tune
06. (Untitled)
07. Chinese Puzzle
08. Passacaglia
09. I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still
10. Morpheus
11. Dumka
“The extraordinary, emotional impact of the Duo Rùnya recording seems to come from a single musical soul, always profoundly alive, and able to create emotionally exalted states”. — Carlo Guaitoli, pianist and pedagogue
Rebecca Clarke (1886 – 1979) was an English classical composer and violist best known for her chamber music featuring the viola. The impressionism of Debussy is often mentioned in connection with Clarke’s work, particularly its lush textures and modernistic harmonies. The Viola Sonata (published in the same year as the Bloch and the Hindemith Viola Sonata) is an example of this, with its pentatonic opening theme, thick harmonies, emotionally intense nature, and dense, rhythmically complex texture.
Morpheus, composed a year earlier, was her first expansive work, after over a decade of songs and miniatures. The “Passacaglia on an Old English Tune” is modal in flavor, mainly in the Dorian mode but venturing into the seldom-heard Phrygian.