Judith Markovich - A Call from the Woods

Judith Markovich - A Call from the Woods for solo viola

A Call from the Woods is serene picture of dark greens emerging from the forest.

Judith Markovich's new work for solo viola, A Call from the Woods, is a touching combination of lyrical melodies and traditional folksy fiddling. The piece was commissioned and virtually premiered by violist Amaro Dubois, a virtuosic performer adapt in classical and contemporary music. In his interpretation, Dubois seems to magically be able to transition between styles, from avant-garde to country to improvisation, always retaining the nuances of each.

Watch Dubois' virtual premiere here.

Like many composers, Markovich is heavily inspired by the calmness of nature, which shows itself in this piece. Her writing for the viola is natural and intuitive, allowing Dubois to create a wide range of timbres in his playing. The work builds on the articulative motif of a thrown ricochet bow, with the inconsistences later mimicked in Dubois' pizzicato playing. A Call from the Woods is serene picture of dark greens emerging from the forest. Markovich's musical cohesion and Dubois' superior stylistic interpretation combine into an easy listening of a great new work for viola.

Be sure to like, follow us, and comment your own thoughts!


© 2022 Brutal New Music Reviews
originally written and published 23 October 2022

please send any and all questions/comments/complaints/suggestions to:

brutalnewmusicreviews@gmail.com

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 22, 2022 at 3:58 PM

    Thank you so much for your kind words and insight. Working with Amaro was truly inspiring! Judith

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fatrin Krajka - "The Space In Between" album review

Image
 Fatrin Krajka - The Space In Between   album review Krajka focuses on approachability in his simple and tonal music, relying on harmonic cliches to evoke a melancholic emotional response. Albanian-American composer and pianist, Fatrin Krajka , is known for his film scores and continued approach to classically inspired minimalism. His latest album release, The Space In Between , intimately connects individual perspectives with a sense of communal emotion. The Space In Between is a full-length album for piano and strings divided up into 4-5 minute long tracks. Within his exploration of the short-form piece, Krajka solidly focuses on approachability in his simple and tonal music, relying on harmonic cliches to evoke a melancholic emotional response from the listener. There is a negligible difference in his approach to scoring for film and this album of more traditional classical music. While I would have appreciated some experimentation and variation within Krajka's minimal...
Read more

Constellation Men's Ensemble - "Man Up / Man Down" album review

Image
 Constellation Men's Ensemble - Man Up / Man Down Constellation's impeccable blend and intonation brings out a resonant beauty for the duration of the album. After ten years, Constellation Men's Ensemble  has released their debut album, Man Up / Man Down  on the Sono Luminus label. The album's longer and intense titular work is bookended by two shorter bursts of peaceful reflection, Home and manifesto . Constellation's impeccable blend and intonation brings out a resonant beauty for the duration of the album, and are becoming a prominent force within the new music vocal community. Jeffrey Derus ' Home , setting text by Carl Sandburg, opens the album with beauty and tonal simplicity. Derus' music is drawn from his personal experience with choirs, resulting in Constellation creating a beautiful resonance with stellar intonation. Home is in a traditional three-part form, with the middle section in a pulsating quintuple meter. Derus' repetitive text setting...
Read more

Pathos Trio - "Polarity" album review

Image
 Pathos Trio - Polarity album review Polarity  is such a highly polished example of how rewarding it can be to merge contemporary classical music with electronica. Released September 15th on the Imaginary Animals label, Polarity wedges itself in a specific niche between contemporary classical music and electronica. The collaborative album combines the performance capabilities of  Pathos Trio with six composers, all of whom have written pieces specifically for the trio, and Four/Ten Media , which is creating accompanying music videos for each track. With the only unifying feature being the implementation of electronics, it is quite impressive how the six new works form such a cohesive collection. Pathos Trio, made up of two percussionists and a pianist, completely reimagines the idiom of the chamber ensemble, embracing the possibilities of electronic integration within live performance. For many non-classical audiences, these instruments and setup may already be com...
Read more