Media
Johannes Brahms:
String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67
III. Agitato
The Avalon String Quartet performs Agitato (Allegretto non troppo) from the String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67, by Johannes Brahms. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, November 21, 2014.
Reger: Piano Trio No. 1 in B minor, Op. 2
A beautiful work for the unusual combination of violin, viola, and piano. The third and concluding movement is a Theme and Variations which takes a surprising turn in Variation 5 (around 23:00). Live performance at the 2021 Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival (Leavenworth, WA).
Marie Wang, violin
Anthony Devroye, viola
Christina Dahl, piano
I. Allegro appassionato ma non troppo (0:00)
II. Scherzo – Allegretto (8:20)
III. Adagio con Variazioni (13:22)
Stacy Garrop: String Quartet No. 4, “Illuminations.” Movement I: The Book of Hours is opened
The striking opening of Stacy Garrop’s “Illuminations.” From an Avalon String Quartet album on Cedille Records featuring music of Garrop, Debussy, Britten and Golijov.
Joseph Ryelandt: Viola Sonata, Op. 73 (1919)
A wonderful viola sonata by Belgian composer Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965). This obscure work, published by CeBeDeM, was most likely entered in the 1919 Coolidge Competition. It has beautiful melodic material and a late-Romantic harmonic language, and deserves to be much more widely known and played.
I. Allegro molto (0:50)
II. Adagio (6:25)
III. Allegro giocoso (10:25)
Anthony Devroye, viola
Daniel Schlosberg, piano
Live at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, 10/16/2019.
Shulamit Ran: Perfect Storm (2010) for solo viola – Anthony Devroye
Bootleg video of a practice session on this superb 21st-Century solo viola piece.
Perfect Storm unfolds in six distinct sections played without pause; the main material was inspired by a viola riff from Luciano Berio’s Folk Song settings (I. “Black is the colour of my true love’s hair”).
How To Improve Your Fast Detache Passagework
Here’s a strategy for achieving better speed, clarity, and coordination in fast 16th-note passages, using an excerpt from a Palaschko etude to demonstrate.
Elizabeth Rennie: “The Gathering,” movement 1
An African Suite for Massed Violas in Six Voices by South African composer Elizabeth Rennie. Movement 1, “The Arrival.” Complete work performed by (mostly) high school and college violists on November 16, 2019, as part of Violas Unite! at Northern Illinois University, conducted by Anthony Devroye.
The Avalon String Quartet released an album on the Chicago-based label Cedille Records that brings attention to little-known works Leo Sowerby wrote in the early 1920s when the Jazz Age was in full swing. Cara Lieurance previewed the new album on WMUK Radio (Kalamazoo, MI) with Anthony Devroye, August 10, 2021.