Sonata for Solo Viola

This Sonata for Viola (unaccompanied) was written in 1999. The soloist’s C-string is tuned down a semitone for the entire piece, giving a duskier quality to the tone-colour, and setting up in the very first bar the characteristic melodic/harmonic shape that infiltrates all four movements.  I – “slowish and thoughtful” – gradually expands this opening idea into cantilena and pattern, as prelude to
II – Vivacissimo – played muted throughout, a tremolando tarantella, with contrasting section, chunky double-stops, alternating with something of a gigue. 
III – adagio – rhapsodic and quasi-improvisando, enclosing a simple self-contained melody, and linking into
IV, where the gigue-like material from the scherzo provides the principal substance, expanding into an ardent cantabile, and calming into the Coda not just the finale but, in its reminiscences of I, to the sonata as a whole.