Trois Impromptus (Three Impromptus)
| Setting | Solo viola. | |
| Period of creation | 2005-01-16 to 2005-02-21. | |
| Duration | 11 min (5+3+3). | |
| Commission / occasion | Commissioned by the Department of Contemporary Music at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (Ger). | |
| Publisher | BabelScores. | |
The three impromptus for solo viola are based on material considerations, each with quite a linear formal development and two contrasting performance techniques to be treated in interaction.
In the first impromptu,an aggressive repetitive element is confronted with lamenting microtonal motion, both merged in a process of increasing density and dynamics and at the beginning interrupted by decreasing trills and sliding action.
The second impromptu consists of an expressive melody which starts with flageolet tones in the extremely high register to be transformed more and more with growing intervals and dynamics to the very low viola register. After the golden section, this process is inverted.
The improvisatory and playful framework of the third impromptu outlines the contrast between pizzicato and arco. In the centrepiece, the chords from the introduction are developed in a three-step escalation (broken chords, double stops, tremolo chords) to a climax which is broken off abruptly.
| 2016-08-01 | Phoebe Green 48th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt (Ger), at the Academy of Musical Arts (Akademie für Tonkunst) / R309 – workshop (Impromptus 1) |
| 2005-04-20 | Garth Knox University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (Ger) – world premiere |
| 75% | Selection for the project Viola in my/our life at the 48th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt (Ger), 3/4 (2016-07) [Impromptus 1]. |