108
work itself shows Larsen’s interest in the shift from pitch-dominated music (Schoenberg
and Schenker) to the rhythm-dominated music of the twentieth century.41
The last movement of the quartet, influenced by Joseph Schillinger, incorporates
the sounds of some of his most famous students including George Gershwin, Glen Miller,
Benny Goodman and John Barry.42 While rehearsing the movement, James Dunham, the
Cleveland Quartet violist at the time, recalled: “there were a couple of licks that felt to
me like some of the licks that jazz players scat along while they are playing.. .so I
practiced liked that. The guys [in the quartet] made me do it for her,”43 and Larsen was so
pleased with Dunham’s scat singing abilities that she requested that he scat along with the
viola part in the performance. The admiration that Dunham and Larsen have for each
other is palpable. Larsen later recalled:
The first time I heard James play—it was [String Quartet: Schoenberg,
Schenker and Schillinger] with the Cleveland Quartet. And I just thought,
‘There it is! ’ That was my first experience with the viola, knowing who—
what—who—yeah. I don’t know why. I knew Pinchas Zukerman, and
[many other] viola players, but when James played, there was and is with
him, a sense of “I belong,” of being completely centered. I heard him
speak American English with his viola.44
In the score of the sonata, Larsen goes on to remark:
James Dunham and I met while I was working on a commission for the
Cleveland String Quartet. We liked each other’s energy and had
compatible views about music. I was dazzled by his musicianship—
especially his gift for supporting a lyric line with deep, strong rhythm,
while at the same time never letting you know that—and by his genial and
generous ways. I knew right away that I wanted to compose a viola sonata
41 Crockett, Hrtke, Steiger, and Larsen, Fiir Wolfgang Amadeus, Cri 669, 1994, CD.
42
Schillinger (1895-1943) was an influential composition teacher who drew students from
both the classical and popular musical worlds.
43
James Dunham, interview by author, 7 July, 2009.
44
Larsen, interview, 8/2008.
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