Rebecca Clarke: Works for Viola Vinciane Béranger, Dana Ciocarlie, Helene Collerette, David Louwerse

• Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979): Viola Sonata:
• 1 Clarke: Viola Sonata: I. Impetuoso 08:32
• 2 Clarke: Viola Sonata: II. Vivace 03:34
• 3 Clarke: Viola Sonata: III. Adagio 10:36
• Morpheus:
• 4 Clarke: Morpheus 06:32
• Passacaglia (On an Old English Tune):
• 5 Clarke: Passacaglia (On an Old English Tune) 05:10
• Two Pieces for Viola and Cello:
• 6 Clarke: Two Pieces for Viola and Cello: I. Lullaby 03:37
• 7 Clarke: Two Pieces for Viola and Cello: II. Grotesque 02:50
• Irish Melody (Emer's Farewell to Cucullain "Londonderry Air"):
• 8 Clarke: Irish Melody (Emer's Farewell to Cucullain "Londonderry Air") 04:23
• Dumka:
• 9 Clarke: Dumka 09:28
• Chinese Puzzle:
• 10 Clarke: Chinese Puzzle 01:40
• Total Runtime 56:22

Info for Rebecca Clarke: Works for Viola

Today, with the flowering of recordings aimed at rediscovering the buried treasures of past centuries, it is difficult to ignore the work of the twentieth-century composer Rebecca Clarke. If you have not yet had the pleasure of coming across it, one thing is sure: you will not easily forget it! The viola player Vinciane Béranger, along with Dana Ciocarlie, Hélène Collerette and David Louwerse, have devoted a disc to the works for viola of Clarke, who was both a composer and a performer – one of the foremost professional women in England. Her music, at the crossroads of various currents, navigates at different moments through French music, modality, British folklore, harmonic boldness and exoticism. There is, however, no pastiche: Clarke creates her own honey from these trends in order to construct a quite atypical language that is resolutely modern. From her masterly Viola Sonata to the poetic Morpheus, and not forgetting the trio Dumka or the duet Chinese Puzzle, the performers are keen to paint the musical portrait of this iconoclastic composer. The recording is enhanced with the world premiere of Irish Melody, a long lost score that was recently rediscovered.

Vinciane Beranger, viola
Helene Collerette, violin
David Louwerse, cello
Dana Ciocarlie, piano

Vinciane Béranger
is a multi-facetted violist who aims to bring the viola into the spotlight and build bridges between various forms of artistic expression.

The years she spent with the Manfred Quartet and her time and dedication as a chamber-music player have led to invitations to perform on some of the greatest stages worldwide, including the Salle Gaveau and the Salle Chopin-Pleyel in Paris, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Kennedy Center in Washington.

She is also a performer favoured by contemporary composers such as György Kurtag, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Thierry Pécou, Betsy Jolas, Edith Canat de Chizy, Suzanne Giraud, Martin Matalon and Nicolas Bacri.

Links between spoken text and music enrich her work. In 2019 following a residence at the Abbaye de Royaumont, she created a play named “Harold in Italy,” based on Hector Berlioz’s masterpiece. In addition, she has performed in shows based on Mozart and Debussy, created by the Helios Ensemble, at Théâtre du Ranelagh in Paris.

She performs as a soloist with European and American orchestras, and has taken part in numerous festivals including Marlboro USA, Les Arcs, Ile de France, Aix en Provence, Auvers-sur-Oise, Juventus in Cambrai, the Folles Journées in Nantes and Tokyo, the Rencontres musicales d’Evian, and the Flâneries de Reims.

Her discography, mostly with ZigZag Territoires, includes the works of Robert Schumann for viola and piano; a baroque recital for viola and harp; Mozart quartets and a quintet for clarinet and strings, as well as Werg/Webern/Schönberg for quartets and voice. In addition, a Bach/Coltrane disc for quartet, organ and saxophone highlights the links between Bach and jazz.

Having won the Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros, Vinciane Béranger’s Robert Schumann disc also received a very warm welcome from the music press:

“The extreme finesse of Vinciane Béranger’s hypersensitive, ethereal, and always skilful bow … is a major addition to the discography. (Répertoire)

“The young musicians possess a charming je-ne-sais-quoi that makes their performance both alive and subtly refined” (Classica)

“An artistically and musically exemplary vision” (Piano magazine)

A much sought-after teacher, she works at the Haute Ecole de Musique of Lausanne (HEMU) in Switzerland, and at the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Conservatory in France. She is a qualified viola teacher who regularly gives Master Classes and also sits on juries. Her interest in education has led her to run teacher training courses at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. Her passion for the quartet can be seen in her teaching work for Pro Quartet.

At the age of 16, Vinciane entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where she studied under Gérard Caussé and was unanimously awarded First Prize for viola, also receiving First Prize for chamber music. She continued to study with Kim Kashkashian in Freiburg, Germany on the DAAD scholarship. She went on to complete her training at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia as a recipient of the Fullbright scholarship and the French Lavoisier scholarship (awarded by the Foreign Ministry).

She won the Connelly Memorial Prize at the International Music Competition in Washington, as well as an award at the International Music Competition in Rome. She received Second Prize in the Lyceum Club de Berne Competition, First Prize in the Illzach competition, and was also given the Fondation Natexis-Banques Populaires award.

She plays a viola made by Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza in 1770.

Booklet for Rebecca Clarke: Works for Viola