Amy Beach was the first pianist to play and take her music to Europe, achieving new successes as a concert pianist after her husband's death in 1911.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Amy Beach, a self-taught composer, mastered classical forms, polyphony, fugue, and orchestration by translating treatises by Berlioz and Gevaert.
Historical Context
Amy Beach was a prominent member of 'The Boston Six,' a group of eminent figures in American composition at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Composer Biography
After her marriage in 1885, Amy Beach's husband asked her to dedicate herself solely to composing, leading her to abandon her acclaimed performing career.
Interpretation
Matteo Amadasi, the violist on this album, has transferred Amy Beach's Sonata and other works originally for violin or cello to the viola.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Amy Beach's music is characterized by a genuine and deeply moving melodic and expressive momentum, which some critics describe as a pioneering 'American enthusiasm'.
Composer Biography
Amy Beach, born Amy Marcy Cheney, was considered a child prodigy, able to sing 40 different melodies with precision at age one and transpose Bach fugues at 14.
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Reflections
Two Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 2 (Arr. for Viola and Piano by Mathis Rochat)
Johanna Senfter - Complete Works for Viola And Piano
1919
Visages
Voices from the Homefront: American Viola Works from the 1940s
Czech Portraits: Czech Viola Music
Bowen: Viola Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 - Phantasy
Music for Viola and Piano by Shostakovich, Stravinksy, Glazunov
