The name is absent

145

Nonetheless, the titles of the movements do not just serve as instructions for the
performers, but also provide clues for the audience. The titles of the second and third
movements, Drift and Breathless, are perhaps more accessible for both audience and
performers because of the manner in which the titles, the words, and the music relate.
Flow, the first movement, is challenging because although the x and y motives are very
lyrical, they are somewhat awkward on the viola and are pieced together in a way that is
not conducive to lyrical, smooth, and flowing style of playing.

As in all of her music, Larsen is her own most vocal critic and is quick to
acknowledge any perceived weaknesses in the sonata. When asked about how the piece
changed for her after she first heard it, she remarked,

It became technically more difficult.. .because [Dunham] is better than the
piece. When I brought it to him, and he played it and I listened to him play
it, Ijust thought, ‘he is much better than the piece.’ Γm trying to write a
piece for him, yet I don’t want to write a piece that only [Dunham] can
play.. .He made a comment when we were working through Breathless, he
said ‘can you write something really ferocious?’ and I thought, not here. I
did, towards the end, and so we actually worked pretty hard on the third
movement, because I needed to try to understand how I could write for
[Dunham].⁹³

Larsen notes that it was Dunham who suggested adding double stops in several
passages as Van had done in Cajun Set. In looking back on her attempt to create a strong
rhythmic sound with the viola, she realizes that she and Dunham had differing concepts
in mind:

When James says ferocious and I say ferocious, I think we mean different
things... My ferocious is big leaps, lots of punctuation. [For instance], in
Licorice Stick, which is clarinet-piano piece, that’s ferocious from my
point of view.

⁹³ Larsen, interview, 7/2009.

⁹⁴Ibid.

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