I have to investigate that piece. It is contemporary probably, is it.
I am playing Horovitz sonata and Weber duo with clarinet, the third piece is Messanger. The first two I really have to practice, they are fast and tricky (Horovitz, tricky rhythm). I am too heavy handed with them. I am still not free, trying to keep elbow lever with the wrist etc. Sometimes chords sound better with a higher wrist (This is for Roslynmuse). Do you think the writst has to be always low?
Clarinet and viola are the same in many ways and many composers have the same pieces for them (Brahms clarinet sonatas are for viola too). Sometimes viola can sound like a horn strangely enough.

martle, it was a great experience to be in the place and hear Feldman's music. The space is very interestingly organized in terms of colour (different shades of brown) and light for ceiling, floor and benches.

The Viola Concerto was indeed featured on CotW when it was Frankel's centenary, Martin:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/pip/clnv1/

Do you know his Violin Concerto? It's an even better piece, truly one of the best Violin Concertos of that era.

Absolutely, Bryn! Either of them will do me just fine actually (though I'd always rather have the timps than pizzicato double basses accompanying the beautiful opening melody).

Incomplete or not, it's one of my favourite Bartók pieces, and more than with any other composer I can think of (except Grisey, who's also been mentioned on this thread) I wish he'd lived for longer.

How about Britten's Lachrymae - Reflections on a song of Dowland?  One of my friends from university was a viola player (and a good one too) and he played it in concert and it's lovely!  I think there is also another work by Britten for viola and orchestra but i'm not a Britten expert so may be wrong.

I'm sure Bridge must've written some viola music!

I discovered yesterday that Henk Badings also wrote a viola concerto. Never heard that one. It will be performed in Rotterdam later this year in a cycle of concerts to mark the centenary of his birth. I think I will go to this concert.

Speaking of Rotterdam: I found musical life in that city rather dull the last fifteen years but after reading the new concert programme for it's main musical hall De Doelen I get impression things are improving. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra will give a performance in November and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in March (finally a chance to hear Walton's Cello Concerto in a Dutch concert hall!), a whole evening devoted to the songs of Elgar, an evening devoted to Szymanowski's songs and an evening with Mahler songs (the excellent Dutch actor Tom Jansen will read fragments of letters and diaries by Gustav and Alma Mahler). The Piano Quintet by Herbert Howells will be performed in March (that's really something special in the Netherlands!). There's an evening devoted to the music of Karl Amadeus Hartmann in April 2008, Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir will be performed in June 2008, Berg's Violin Concerto in February (together with Mahler 1 and an overture by Schreker). Then there is L'Histoire du Soldat (played live with the film starring Max von Sydow), the Turangalila-Symphonie in January, a concert with chamber music by Elliott Carter and in February Feldman's Words and Music will be performed as a live radio play. Together with the four Badings concerts, this could be become a very interesting season in Rotterdam!

I have been right after all: when Rotterdam gets rid of Valery Gergiev, musical life in this city will flourish again.

I am very surprised, pim, that Dutch concert scene was not exciting. I met some Dutch people and they tell me that they have opera everywhere (even in provinces) and I thought that they have very exciting programs everywhere in Holland.
May be I am like usual mixed up somethings.

pim
What about the much-vaunted enthusiasm of Dutch audiences for new music? Is that just an Amsterdam phenomenon these days? Is the state supporting it in the same way it seemed to be doing in the 1980s? (I guess Richard may have something to say about this too.) It has seemed to be a knee-jerk response to the decline of support for new music here to point at Holland and say, 'Hey, it works there, why not here?' Is that (still) justified?