Partita Party - October 25, 2024
cover art by Ron Arad
Partita Party was made possible thanks to a grant from Indiana University's Presidential Arts and Humanities Program
Partita Party is the brainchild of Atar Arad. It is a new collaborative composition for solo viola based on J.S. Bach's Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin. Atar asked four of his friends (and former students) to join him in Read more
Partita Party is the brainchild of Atar Arad. It is a new collaborative composition for solo viola based on J.S. Bach's Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin. Atar asked four of his friends (and former students) to join him in writing movements jointly inspired by Bach's masterpiece and Atar's Ciaccona, which he wrote for the 2021 Hindemith International Viola Competition. The other movements of Partita Party were written by Duncan Steele (Allemanda), Yuval Gotlibovich (Corrente), Melia Watras (Sarabanda), and Rose Wollman (Giga), each using Atar's starting note and tone row and using the structure of Bach's movements. This innovative new work was recorded by the composers at Indiana University in October 2023.
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Steele: Allemanda 3:330:00/3:33
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0:00/5:31
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Watras: Sarabanda 3:180:00/3:18
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Wollman: Giga 3:270:00/3:27
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Arad: Ciaccona 8:580:00/8:58
Critical acclaim for Partita Party:
“These compact 24 minutes are filled with haunting variations on a theme that sometimes sounds like a horror soundtrack, but also soothes and coddles the ear by testing the limits of what the viola can possibly sound like with no rhythm section or any accompaniment”
- The Aquarian https://www.theaquarian.com/2024/11/13/rant-n-roll-rarities-more/
“The EP on a whole is a really unique creative project and a marvel to see the compositional prowess and vibrant performances of all five of these violists.”
- The Journal of the American Viola Society, vol. 41 no. 1, Spring 2025 https://journaloftheamericanviolasociety.cld.bz/JAVS-Spring-2025/68/
Listening to eighteen talented violists performing my Ciaccona (or Chaconne) at the first Hindemith International Competition (October, 2021) gave me the idea to invite four former viola students of mine – who also are composers – to have a party together, a Partita Party, celebrating the famous D minor Partita by Bach. (Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich celebrating together with violinist Joachim with their famous F-A-E Sonata was, of course, not far from my mind.) - Atar Arad
Allemanda
Duncan Steele
It is a great pleasure to be a part of this project alongside such talented musicians and contributing to the Partita Party! When writing this Allemanda, the main two influences were Atar’s Ciaccona and Bach’s Partita No. 2 Allemande. The structure and melodic contours were generally inspired by Bach’s Allemande, while the main theme of the piece is based around the 12-tone row from Atar’s Ciaccona. There are also sequences and counterpoint within the piece that are reminiscent of the kind that Bach may have written in a dance movement, and the foundation of the whole piece is based on a 4-note motive that appears in every permutation of Atar’s 12-tone row.
Corrente
Yuval Gotlibovich
I am thrilled and honored to be part of team Partita Party! This intergenerational creation is another testimony to the way Atar Arad has illuminated my fellow students and me in his viola class, inspiring us to be committed, vibrant, poetic, and, most importantly, to have the courage to be fully ourselves, for-which I am forever grateful.
My contribution is the second movement - titled Corrente. A Corrente is a fast and lively dance in triple meter, derived from the Latin word for “running”. I imagined the running motion and the tiptoeing dance steps as short articulations on one note, like a drum, creating a rhythmic drive and energy. I also used a fleeting fragment from Bach’s Corrente from his second Partita for violin solo. However, as my wife pointed out, it sounds more like the Spanish “Zapateado” than a baroque dance. It’s been said that all writing is autobiography, and that’s probably what happened. Having lived in Spain for the past 15 years, the sounds that come out of my Corrente are colored in flamenco red.
Modeled after Bach’s Corrente from his second Partita for violin solo, this movement has two repeated parts. I added a “double” which traditionally is a variation on the main movement. However, in this case, the musical material is new, pastorale in feeling, borrowing and rearranging fragments from Atar’s Ciaccona, and ending with the plucked notes of its beginning.
Sarabanda - (The void after the second beat - for Atar)
Melia Watras
Atar Arad’s students draw inspiration from him on countless levels. Looking at the myriad of ways his alumni express their creativity is a testament to the artistry he fosters.
I love Atar’s idea of creating a Partita Party! Atar invited some of his former students to join him in each composing a piece inspired by a movement of Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin. I am honored to contribute a Sarabanda to this project.
For string players, Bach’s solo works are pieces that one returns to again and again. His Sarabandes draw me in with their depth of emotion. The one from the Fifth cello suite, in particular, speaks directly to my heart.
The dedication takes it text from Anner Bylsma’s book Bach, The Fencing Master, in which Bylsma (in discussion of the Sarabande from Bach’s 1st cello suite) writes, “The void after the second beat is wonderful.”
Giga
Rose Wollman
When Atar asked me to join him, Melia, Yuval, and Duncan in writing a partita together I was equal parts thrilled, humbled, and terrified. Atar is the person whose musical opinion matters the most to me (maybe only equaled by my husband). I was comforted by the thought that he has a knack for seeing the potential in others, even if they can’t see it themselves. He also has a way of coaxing out the best in them, and sometimes that means throwing them in the deep end!
In writing my giga, I kept the spirit of Bach’s movement by stealing his time signature, form, and opening bar, as well as the perpetual motion feel. The movement is ostensibly in E-flat major / C minor, but sits on slippery harmonic ground, a nod to Atar’s use of a 12 tone row in his Ciaconna. I love the freedom that is possible within Bach’s time signatures, particularly distortions of the beat hierarchy, and I crammed as many hemiolas as I could into this giga. I don’t want my dancers to trip, but it shouldn’t be too easy for them either.
Ciaccona
Atar Arad
Commissioned by the Viola-Stiftung Walter Witte for the Hindemith International Viola Competition.
My Ciaccona may not totally qualify as such, and while based on a 12-tone row, it may share very little or nothing at all with traditional serial writing.
When the Covid pandemic struck us in March of 2020, I happened to be working relentlessly on Bach’s Chaconne, practicing it every day, loving it every day. In fact, loving it obsessively. And as silly as it might sound, as soon as I was asked to write a solo viola piece for the Hindemith International Competition, there was no doubt in my mind that I’ll name it Ciaccona.
Why I attached the piece to a 12-tone row, inventing my own method for using it, is not clear to me. Perhaps being locked down with no end in sight was an inspiration for trying something new, creating a fresh and personal process for writing my music.
Having fun creating my own version of a Ciaccona and following – and at times breaking – my own rules for doing so, I very often found myself composing with the viola in my hands. My ultimate goal was to be inspired by the viola, its character, range of sounds and, also, its technical possibilities. After all, one of my most venerable role models is – and always was - Paul Hindemith.