Pas de Deux (2009/2015) by Ross Bauer
for viola and cello
World premiere

Pas de Deux was written in 2009 for Tawnya Popoff and Caroline Stinson who premiered it in New York the following year. The version you'll hear tonight is a revised and shortened one. A prominent aspect of both versions is the interaction of three distinct and continually developing musical characters. The character that gets the least stage time during the piece, consisting of soft furtive legato gestures in the mid-low register, begins and, rather suddenly, ends the piece.