From Strings Magazine
December 2007

On Record
Reviewer: Greg Cahill

Tired of the same old warhorses rehashed year after year? Amberwood is a richly satisfying collection that offers an invigorating foursome of contemporary works that show just how original a string player can get when committed to bringing great new music to the world.

The gifted violinist and violist Karen Bentley Pollick commissioned the Sonata for Viola and Piano last year from pianist and composer Ivan Sokolov (b. 1960), a prominent Russian player and educator.

The result is a 12 ½ minute recording of a wonderfully hypnotic music that makes good use of the viola's dark voice, especially in the nocturne. The piece is part of a triad of works-the others are a 2002 cello and a 2005 violin sonata- that share a similar opening motif.

This new Viola Sonata is fashioned in four movements, like a symphony cycle.

The other works included here are the spry Tango Orientale for Viola and Piano (2001) by Swedish composer Ole Saxe (b. 1952); the meditative Uspávanky (Lullabies) for Violin and Piano (2006) by Czech composer Jan Vičar (what the composer describes as "a lyrical parallel to the Homage to Fiddlers for Violin and Cello," which he penned during his tenure at Birmingham-Southern College); and the wistful Solnechnaya (Sunlight) Sonata for Violin and Piano (2005) by Sokolov.

Pollick, who has performed with everyone from the Dave Matthews Band to the New York Philharmonic, resides in Birmingham, Alabama. At press time, she had planned to present the first all-Sokolov concert in Birmingham and Baton Rouge, joining forces with Louisiana State University cello professor Dennis Parker to perform Sokolov's early Piano Trio, followed by a cycle of his violin, viola, and cello sonatas.