Composer’s Note:

These three pieces for solo viola were composed during the winter of 1986-1987 for Rebecca Henry (and to whom they are dedicated), and who gave their premiere in February 1987 at the Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, Indiana, as part of her faculty recital.

While each movement is not a “dance” in the traditional sense, each movement’s rhythmic character is meant to invite listeners to get into the (dance-like) “groove” of each movement’s rhythmic profile. The first movement, q = 66, ca., marked “Tough,” makes use of a rather persistent 16th — dotted 32nd note figure that is reminiscent of rhythms used in ska or reggae music. The second movement, Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea, takes its title from the Mark Rothko painting of the same name, which depicts two abstract figures, (accompanied by other lesser figures) seemingly in motion (and to me) slowly moving about each other. (I think of a slow and somewhat free waltz when I see that painting, and I did let that image guide me when I wrote the piece.)

The third movement, q =120, is meant to be a kind of lighter, moto-perpetuo, flight-of-fancy sort of a piece, inspired by blue-grass violin fiddling, employing insistent 16th note rhythms sprinkled with syncopated accents, which is interrupted by a short pizzicato passage and then followed by the longest note duration of the movement, before returning to 16th notes to end the piece.