Suite for Viola

This six-movement work for viola solo composed in 1986 and dedicated to Lisa Ponton, is loosely an homage to Bach’s first cello suite. Each of the movements explores the typical meter and style associated with its baroque dance title through characteristic rhythmic figures, contemporary compositional devices, and technical characteristics. Tonality, metric steadiness, and diatonicism are presented as healthy musical states, while atonality and rhythmically uneven music portray psychological disturbance, a lack of centeredness.