RHAPSODIC SONATA

For viola and piano
Composed: 2011 (revised 2016)
Commission:  Ellen Rose, violist
Duration:  21 minutes

PROGRAM NOTES

I.  Caritas
II....fair as the moon, bright as the sun...
III. Blithesome Spirit

Rhapsodic Sonata portrays musically a person who is on an internal journey.   In the first movement the viola begins with a mood of questioning and anger, contrasted with the atmosphere of blurred color and more tranquil melodic fragments in the piano. Under the influence of the piano, the passionato mood of the soloist gradually dissolves, with only occasional references to the opening tensions. Near the end of the movement the chant, Ubi Caritas is quoted followed by a related melody, first in the piano, and then the viola.   The second movement, ...fair as the moon, bright as the sun... is simply a love song.  Opening with soft, breathless, quick motion in the piano, "like a light breeze through white clouds", it quickly goes to a melody in the viola that exudes warmth and pleasure.  The same chant, Ubi Caritas, is referred to near the end of the movement in the piano.  The last movement, Blithesome Spirit, in a light-hearted mood, becomes buoyantly playful, mischievous, and sometimes a bit jaunty.

REVIEWS

Beautiful in its timbre and wide in its range, the viola is often overlooked as a solo instrument in favor of the more commonly-heard violin or cello. Brouwer’s three-movement Rhapsodic Sonata, with violist Eliesha Nelson and pianist Shuai Wang, offers substantial challenges for both players.

An edgy, staccato opening statement gives way to a mournful descending melody and into a declarative answer, then back to the more rhythmic opening; the listener is adroitly hooked. Nelson meets the work’s virtuoso requirements with sharp attacks and soulful melodies. The pianist’s part is no mere accompaniment but a demanding, virtuosic partnership. An extended cadenza for viola is both eloquent and challenging. Composer Brouwer makes telling use of the viola’s lowest octave, deploying the instrument’s lowest C as if to ground the listener in that solid, vibrato-less sound.

The slower and more contemplative second movement sometimes finds the violist taking just a little time to find the pitch center of the note in question. The melodic lines take full advantage of the warmth and richness this instrument can command. Again, that low C appears to be a touchstone.

The third movement finds a change of pace with a more playful atmosphere, scampering figures in viola and piano, rhythmic back-and-forth passages, some humor, and energetic exchanges between the two instruments. This substantial and important sonata should find plenty of grateful exponents among those who can handle the technical challenges.

- Melinda Bargreen, EarRelevant, Reactions CD, 2022

‘Rhapsodic Sonata’ is a three-movement work for viola and piano in which Brouwer’s musical language – tonal with deft sprinklings of harmonic spice – draws the instruments into ardent and wistful conversations. The viola is temperamental in the extended first movement, ‘Cáritas’, with its hint of a Gregorian chant, and loving and impish in the shorter two movements. Eliesha Nelson plays the viola part with penetrating focus and beauty, and pianist Shuai Wang is equally sensitive to the music’s changing moods.

-Gramophone, Reactions CD, 2022

Her opening piece for solo viola and piano, the ‘Rhapsodic Sonata’, is a tender ode to being in love that plays with a variety of harmonic landscapes and melodic conversations. Themes first presented by Wang in the piano’s underlying rhythm are later taken up and expanded upon by Nelson. The violist soars with virtuosic, high-register passages and brings out the depth and richness of her lower register during slower material. In the second movement, both parts burst at the seams with emotion.

The finale contains a host of extended techniques — glissandos, double stops, harmonics, a variety of bow strokes — and a collage of melodic subjects all melting together to drive forward towards the end of the piece. Brouwer’s way of wrapping up this set of three contrasting movements not only allows Nelson and Wang to show off their musical and technical prowess, but also lets the sonata live up to the rhapsodic character that the title suggests.

-Nicolette Cheauré, ClevelandClassical, Reactions CD, 2022

The "Rhapsodic Sonata" from 2011, revised 2016, has a wonderfully alive viola part nicely handled by Eliesha Nelson and an equally, nicely complexly conjugated piano part realized with grace and musicality by Shuai Wang. It is serious music, brimming over with crackling electricity and turbulence but post-Romantically rhapsodic, which is something rather rare in my listening experience. I find it very fetching and absorbing. Its 20 minutes makes the album worthy just for its happy presence, but there is more.

-Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review, Reactions CD, 2022

With the music oscillating between moments of joy and anguish, the emotional tempest of being in love drives ‘Rhapsodic Sonata’, written in 2011 and revised five years later. Passion permeates the opening movement, “Cáritas,” the attack by the violin almost angry in contrast to the comparatively placid demeanour of the piano. That initial tension gradually subsides for a more reflective meditation, such that the intense dialogue between the musicians might be heard as heightened exchanges between lovers. Nelson and Wang prove to be excellent sparring partners for how deftly they transition from episodes of conflict to tranquil passages suggesting romantic ardour. Whereas the rapturous second movement, “…fair as the moon, bright as the sun…,” eschews emotional extremes for a lyrical expression of love, “Blithesome Spirit,” is, as one would expect, playful and high-spirited.

-Textura, Reactions CD, 2022

The Rhapsodic Sonata (2011, rev. 2016) is a reaction to being in love. It is full of happiness and joy, total harmony but also confrontations. As in all the works here the melodic material is very much in the foreground, but her harmonic language can be knotty, brave dissonances contrast with lush melodies. The first movement in the Sonata – Cáritas – is, to my mind, a combat between two conflicting feelings. The music is rhythmic and aggressive, the piano employed as a percussion instrument and spiced with dissonances, but the viola, the symbol for love, often takes command with its warm tone. The mood changes frequently, the music breaths humour, and occasionally anger, but it is full of life. It certainly is rhapsodic. The second movement, … fair as the moon, bright as the sun … is achingly beautiful with long melodious arches. It is the viola – love – that dominates. Occasionally the piano inserts a powerful chord that breaks the spell, but love soon reigns again. The third movement, titled Blithesome Spirit, is again rhythmic, staccato, contrapuntal in a thrilling and joyful conversation, where the viola relates to the love music in the previous movement. The piano on its own gets the last word, saying, I believe, “Yes, I do!” I have already returned to the sonata thrice and it has haunted me ever since. Both Eliesha Nelson and Shuai Wang do a good job and Ms Wang is a pillar of strength throughout the programme.

-Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International, Reactions CD, 2022