Programme Note
viola:piano is one of a set of 6 pieces which I wrote in 2008 and 2009. Two of the others, violin:piano and cello:piano require the instrumentalists to play at different tempi from each other throughout. In this piece the players are playing together, but their material is, for the most part, quite different, and for the first 12 minutes, the two parts have little in common. It is only after this that they begin a more conventional contrapuntal relationship. This is the first of these pieces to be premiered. It was commissioned by the Wigmore Hall with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland. The piece is dedicated to Mary Rörich.
Kevin Volans