All the compositions available for free download, though contributions are welcome! The 12 concert Etudes are only available from Clifton Editions. There is more information on the Etudes if you click on the “teaching” tab.
As of November 2025, I am working on a set of Duos for two violas, along the lines of the Bartok Duos for two violins. They will be easier than a lot of the other compositions, maybe suitable for Grade 7 and beyond. I will add them as soon as they are ready.
Recordings of all the compositions are available. You can find links and details under “recordings”.
If you decide to play any of the compositions, I’d be very happy to know!
Ostinato – Scherzo – Adagio – Finale
This work was commissioned and first performed by Paul Barritt and Jo Horder, for Tring Chamber Music, the concert series that they created in 2003.
This light-hearted set of variations on the popular song “How much is that doggie in the window” was composed for a fundraising quartet for a dogs’ home! It lasts about 5 minutes.
This virtuosic Duo in four movements for two violas was composed in 1998. The recording is available on youTube.
These 12 Concert Etudes are suitable for Grade 8 and Conservatoire students, and I wrote them to provide some original new Etudes for viola, to complement the many arrangements of violin Etudes for viola. They are each in a different style.
The Etudes can be purchased from Clifton Edition Limited. On their website, you can find extracts from the Etudes and also recordings of each of them.
This short work (about 6 minutes) was commissioned by the International Tertis Viola competition 2025, and received its first performance at the Glass House in Newcastle as part of the finals of the competition, played by competitors. On this occasion there were two to a part. The music plays with the idea of competition, with a lot of antiphonal writing. There are two moments when music from Bartok’s Viola Concerto make a playful entrance, and the work finishes with a newly harmonised version of the Keele Row, a folk tune originating in Newcastle. Bars 12 and 13, where the performers shout out the names of the two competitions, Tertis and Aronowitz, which were running in tandem, can be omitted .
There is currently no recording.
I composed Divertimento for my friend Laurène Durantel shortly after I moved to Brittany and found that Laurène lived only half an hour away. The piece consists of six short character pieces, the first and last of which do seem to have something French about them. Works for viola and double bass are a rare species, and I’m grateful to Laurène for her guidance on how to write idiomatically, if in a demanding manner, for her instrument.
The recording can be found on the CD called Four Compositions, and a video is also posted on youTube.
For 2 violas c. 2013
This is a dramatic and virtuosic piece for two violas, inspired by a poem by Elisabeth Barrett. It lasts about 10 minutes. The recording is on the CD called Four Compositions, on youTube.
This work for solo viola was commissioned by Tring Chamber Music, to be a companion piece to the famous poem “I know why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou. It follows the structure and the images of the poem quite closely. I integrate two original Afghan traditional melodies, as at the time of composition, the American army withdrew from Afghanistan, and the theme of oppression in the poem resonated with the takeover by the Taliban.
The piece lasts about 10 minutes. The recording can be found on the CD called Four Compositions.