Viola vibes

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This thesis consists of two parts: a CD of seven new works for viola solo or viola plus one other instrument and the written dissertation which accompanies the CD. The scores of the works are added for reference purposes as an appendix. The written dissertation has an introduction, seven chapters on my experience of commissioning preparing (technically and artistically) and rehearsing the new works (one chapter per piece), and one chapter on the recording process. The introduction contains my thoughts on the challenges facing classical musicians in the 21st century, especially how to keep classical music from becoming an historical art form - in other words, how to keep pushing the boundaries of new yet music, yet remain (or become more) accessible to audiences. It also has an explanation of how I selected the composers for this project, and my general thoughts on composing for the viola (with more detail contained in the writing on each individual piece). All the writing is based on my own personal experience. Others' experience of learning these pieces probably will be different and so my bowings, fingerings and thoughts are not meant to be read as the "only" way to prepare these works for performance, or indeed, of how to approach contemporary classical music general. However, since my experience of new music spans many years, and I have been very actively involved in the composition process for this project, I am more than happy for people wishing to play these works to use this writing as a guide to learning them. The written dissertation is meant to be read in conjunction with listening to the CD and reading the scores. Throughout the writing about the preparation of the pieces, I have used the following characters to denote strings, positions etc.: Positions and fingerings are denoted 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. Strings are denoted by Roman Numerals, i.e. I(A) II(D) III(G) IV(C)