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The Whole Note

Music for violin and viola by American [sic] composer Michael Alec Rose is featured on Il Ritorno, with the English duo of violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved and violist Diana Mathews. There are two works for violin and viola and two for solo violin here, all of which were a result of the composer’s long friendship with the two performers.

Mathews commissioned the opening work, Unturned Stones: Duo for Violin and Viola (2012), a three movement piece that takes the study of landscape as a starting point but ventures much further afield, Rose’s extensive booklet notes quoting Talmudic study and Zen philosophy.
Mornington Caprice: Duo for Violin and Viola (2015) is the second caprice Rose has written for Mathews and was inspired by Frank Auerbach’s painting Mornington Crescent – Early Morning (1991). At under four minutes it takes longer to read and understand the booklet notes than it does to listen to the music.

By far the biggest work on the CD is the title track, subtitled Perambulation for Solo Violin (2013-2015). It was inspired and shaped by the composer’s obsession with Dartmoor in Devon, England, which he first visited in 1991 and which he describes as “the reigning metaphor” of his life: he has returned 18 times since then, hence the work’s title. The four pages of intense booklet notes make it clear that this work goes well beyond the purely physical appeal of the landscape suggested by the six movement titles: Preamble; Bearings; Silence; Water; Stone; and Song. Skærved is in quite superb form in a work which is certainly not lacking a tonal feel and that uses very little in the way of extreme technique; there is some remarkable playing here, especially in Stone.

The brief Diaphany (2016) for solo violin is a strong finish to the disc. It may be something of a challenge to fully understand the philosophy approach here, but there’s no doubting the strength and quality of the music.