The new orchestration was premiered on June 8, 2007. (more information about the premiere.) We continue to look for for orchestras and violists bring this work to new audiences.
Composer Ruth Lomon has created a masterful orchestration of Clarke's Sonata. Patricia McCarty, whose 1985 recording of the Sonata was a landmark in its rediscovery, is one of many violists who are enthusiastic about this new arrangement. According to McCarty,
Clarke wrote for her own instrument, the viola; her idiomatic understanding adds to the work's immediacy. In three movements, "Impetuoso," "Vivace" and "Adagio -- Allegro," it is powerful and expansive in scale. The second movement, an exuberant scherzo, can be performed as a stand-alone piece for a pops orchestra or when a shorter work featuring viola is desired.
Here are links to part of the score for Movement I (Impetuoso) and Movement II (Vivace) in pdf format. At present some revisions are being made to this score; please contact us if you would like to be notified when the revised version is available.
Ruth Lomon has won wide recognition for her own music, including her Bassoon Concerto and Terra Incognito for orchestra. These were both recorded on the MMC New Century label and received enthusiastically. Lomon has also recorded on the CRI and Capstone labels, and her trumpet Concerto, Odyssey, was commissioned by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, which they premiered with trumpeter Charles Schleuter.
Learn more about composer Ruth Lomon, who has completed the orchestration of Clarke's Sonata
We are happy to send copies of the entire score of the Viola Concerto to interested orchestras; we invite you to be in touch with us.
The Rebecca Clarke Society, Inc.
phone 617-776-1809 (press #2 and leave a voice message),
e-mail info@rebeccaclarke.org (please include "Clarke" in your subject line)
Mailing address:
Women's Studies Research Center
Brandeis University, MS 079
Waltham, MA 02454-9110
