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CD Release: Lou Harrison's Unaccompanied Sonata for Violin

This recording is a near-unheard early composition by legendary American Maverick composer Lou Harrison, Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin (1936), performed by violinist Kate Stenberg. This short piece was written by the precocious composer when he was barely out of high school, still a teenager, but already a year deep into studies under Henry Cowell, studies that occurred during Cowell’s stint in San Quentin State Prison. The piece was entirely unheard from its composition until it was uncovered by violinist Gary Beswick, who gave the piece its premiere in 1963. It wallowed in the obscurity of juvenilia until composer and Frog Peak Music’s Larry Polansky transcribed the piece from its original manuscript, which found its way to Stenberg.