Faye-Ellen Silverman

Memories

Year: 1974

Duration (in minutes): 8 1/2'39;

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: solo instrument other than piano, solo string instrument

Instruments: viola

Publisher: Subito Music Corporation

Description: “Memories” is a work in four movements: I Lyrical, II Playful, III Melancholic, and IV Angry. The mood of each movement is established by tempo (alternating slower and faster movements), characteristic rhythms, and coloristic techniques typical of strings. The first movement uses string harmonics, the second has double stops, and the third, played muted and without vibrato, uses the special color of the lowest string as well as bent pitches, quarter note trills, and occasional harmonics and double stops. The last movement, with its tremolo and ponticello colors and its wider melodic leaps, exploits the entire range of the viola.
The first movement begins with a three-note motif that is expanded to form longer lines. The second movement contains shifting rhythms. In the third movement the end is the reverse of the beginning. The fourth movement uses repeated notes on ponticello strings, accents, and shifting meters to establish its angry mood.