Deux-Elles releases Viola Sonata, Violin Sonata, and Three Russian Songs
In 2020, while in lockdown, I felt the impulse to write some chamber music, having finished my second symphony. Soprano Ilona Domnich has been a long-term collaborator of mine, and asked me if I’d be interested in writing a few songs. The choices of texts were hers. I loved the idea of setting Pushkin, who lived through the cholera pandemic of 1830. Lockdown for him was liberating, as it was (a hundred and ninety years later) for isolating creatives in 2020. Having finished these songs, I spent some time in 2021 writing a violin sonata for my brother-in-law, composer Mihkel Kerem, then in 2023 writing a viola sonata for Charles Mutter.