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Compositions *** |
Duo for Flute and Viola
year
1961
duration
5 ½ minutes
première
February 22, 1962, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York City, Claude Monteux, flute and Walter Trampler, viola
publisher
Carl Fischer Music
recording
Available on demo CD
program notes
[Fine] wrote Duo for Flute and Viola for flutist Claude Monteux (the son of distinguished French conductor Pierre Monteux) and Walter Trampler….Not surprisingly, Fine’s Duo is virtuosic. There are no barlines or meter, and sudden changes of tempi, one of which is caused by a metric modulation, enhance its artistry. The Duo is an outgrowth of the String Quartet, as evidenced by its long arching lines and directions for changes in timbral quality, such as “explosively,” “clear,” “stridente,” and “easy.” Each instrument has a cadenza, but most interesting is the counterpoint between the two. There is no imitation or exchange of material, giving each instrument an independent voice. Fine does refer to the Duo’s beginning near the end of the piece, but the material soon changes to become a perpetuum mobile ending.”
–Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999
review
“...a sturdily constructed work in which the alternating tension and accord between the two instruments was deftly arranged.”
--John Ditsky, The New York Times, February 23, 1962
audio files