Two pieces from John Harbison's "The Violist’s Notebook"

Today I am posting two pieces from John Harbison’s collection of short, solo viola works called The Violist’s Notebook. In his notes at the beginning of the score, Harbison writes that he had Campanioli’s collection of “inventive, musical, and satisfying viola etudes” in mind when composing this collection. They are all very short, but still manage to have surprising moments that are a lot of fun to play with.

Each of the pieces in the collection are dedicated to a well-known violist, and so I am honor bound to start with the one composed for my teacher, Sally Chisholm. Sally told me that this one was named after her because it is the prettiest, and I’m not going to argue with that! The next one is named after Marcus Thompson, who I have never met, but listening to this piece I assume he wears lots of cool sun glasses and leather jackets!