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Programme Note

ROMANZA for solo viola and Ensemble

I have long been in love with the viola, and find myself giving it the best things, for instance, in my String Quartets.

Now I have gone one further ans written a ROMANZA for solo viola with an ensemble of five winds and strings. In its single movement of about twelve minutes it displays considerable variety of theme and mood.

The soloist opens with a rocking theme in quiet dark double stopping, then flowers into melodic phrases in which the winds all participate.

The texture remains contrapuntal, with an interweaving of long lines, until the soloist introduces an almost march-like section, with dotted rythms.

In a meno mosso the viola draws a high-lying melodic line over a sustained wind passage, and a climax is reached. The music then unwinds, the opening is quietly recalled and the viola finally fades out into the far distance.

Elizabeth Maconchy