Elizabeth Maconchy - Viola Sonata (1937)

Dame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy LeFanu DBE (19 March 1907 – 11 November 1994) was an Irish-English composer. Throughout her career she was identified as an Irish composer, or as an English composer with Irish influences, by reviewers and commentators.

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Viola Sonata (1937)

I. Allegro (0:00)
II. Lento moderato (4:36)
III. Presto (9:54)

Louise Williams, viola and David Owen Norris, piano

In terms of style, Maconchy had "a predilection for intervallic composition", and, "profoundly influenced by the resonances produced by certain intervals, [she] tended to build works around one or a small number of intervals, which varied according to the work in question". A favoured "harmonic device" was the "simultaneous use of major and minor sonorities", which "came to denote episodes of heightened emotion". It has been argued that her work is often "driven by rhythm", which gives it its characteristic confluence of "energy, dynamism and imagination".

Maconchy's cycle of thirteen string quartets, composed between 1932 and 1983, is regarded as the peak of her musical achievements. Historian of music Anna Beer has contended that "Maconchy loved the quartet form because it represented a debate, a dialectic between four balanced, individual, impassioned voices." She once declared that: "for me, the best music is an impassioned argument".

In 1933, Maconchy's quintet for oboe and strings won The Daily Telegraph Chamber Music Competition, and was recorded by Helen Gaskel with the Griller Quartet soon afterwards on HMV Records. In 1948, she was awarded the Edwin Evans Prize for her String Quartet No. 5. In 1953, her "Proud Thames" overture won the London County Council Competition as Coronation Overture for the new Queen of the United Kingdom.

In 1959, Maconchy was invited to chair the Composers' Guild of Great Britain, the first woman to do so. In 1960, she was awarded the Cobbett Medal for chamber music. In 1976, following the death of Benjamin Britten, she became President of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1977, and elevated to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1987.

During the week of May 13-17, 2024, Maconchy was featured as Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3.