AVS Shared Recital: Musical Storytelling: Pictorial Viola Compositions by Maxwell Lowery

Maxwell Lowery is a violist and composer who writes programmatic concert music for the viola and small ensembles. His vividly pictorial compositions tell musical stories and are inspired by nature, life, and the human experience. In this group recital, Maxwell and violist Molly Wise will present three of his solo and duo works.

Molly will perform a seven-minute unaccompanied solo piece, Nostalgia, the second prize winning composition in AVS’s 2020 Gardner composition competition. Composed in January 2019, Nostalgia depicts someone lost in thought, pondering their childhood memories. These memories appear as both pleasant and uncomfortable motifs and fragments continually mixing and blending together, never quite taking on a solid form. A triumphant climax, perhaps recalling a moving emotional event, decays to a brooding conclusion by the end.

Maxwell will perform a fifteen-minute, four-movement unaccompanied solo piece, A Very Long Day. Composed in January 2020, this suite contains four scenes in the eventful afternoon of an archetypal toddler. A temper tantrum, a nap, a time out, and a birthday party are heard through violent perpetual motion, dreamy bariolage, soaring melodies, sinister chromatic lines, a pizzicato heartbeat, and celebratory march-like themes.

As the centerpiece of the program, Maxwell and Molly together will perform a forty-one-minute, twenty-six-movement duo for two violas, Magical Miniatures. Composed in Spring 2021, this collection of miniature character pieces tells a fantasy story featuring a cast of memorable characters, a variety of magical landmarks, and a series of short adventures. Each character, location, and chapter of the story is given a distinct sound through extensive use of extended techniques and compositional devices. The work comes to a rousing conclusion as if the characters are riding off into the sunset atop their trusty steeds.