Two Violas Now

Peter Mallinson - Viola
Matthias Wiesner - Viola
Evgenia Startseva - Piano

Writing for pairs of instruments, unaccompanied or otherwise, is a tradition which predates notation. Two Violas Now features four new works which exploit the unique sound-world of two violas in distinctive and complementary ways. 

Deborah Pritchard's The Heart, inspired by texts from the Old Testament, uses the technique of canon to illuminate the heart’s fragility and strength. 
Simon Rowland-Jones's Suite for two violas releases the energy embedded in the simplest of musical motifs. 
John Alexander's a pale blue dot is an expression of the composer’s deep concern for the natural world. 
Edwin Roxburgh's Sonata for Three takes us on a rhapsodic journey to the extremes of the instruments.

This is very much a programme of (and for) the present day. In their respective explorations of worlds from the minimally small to the unimaginably vast, from the personal to the universal, they suggest some of the preoccupations of our times and have the power to engage listeners of today. Each piece is receiving its premiere recording.