Sonata for Viola and Piano Op.13 (1984)

c. 28'00"

I. Allegro moderato (listen to sample)
II. Andante (listen to sample)
III. Recitativo; Allegro feroce (listen to sample)

First performance: 29 April 1985; Town Hall, NYC
Neal Gripp, viola; Daniel Lessner, piano.

Dedicated to Neal Gripp

First Place, Victor Herbert/ASCAP Awards, National Federation of Music Clubs 1986

Published by Theodore Presser Co. | #114-40463

Recordings:

Cedille Records | Cathy Basrak, viola | William Koehler, piano

Reviews:

"From a program of amiably unexceptional Americana, there leapt (almost literally) a Viola Sonata by the young American composer Lowell Liebermann, striking for its muscle, character and unexpected Russophilia."

Michael White, The Independent (London)

"The word 'genius' is overexploited these days, but to find someone that young who can so masterfully express warmth, passion, tenderness, anxiety and loneliness without self-consciousness, without overstating and sentimentalizing, and with a simplicity of means that is deceptive, brings the term immediately to mind."

Ottawa Citizen

"Liebermann's Sonata is an attention-grabber."

Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare

"... a major composition rich in musical content and extremely rewarding for its performers. This work is recommended very highly to all violists."

The Violexchange