Sonata for Viola Alone (1961)

John Harbison’s Sonata is an early piece that uses a language of extended tonality not unlike Hindemith’s, and is equally well suited to the instrument (Harbison is a violist himself). Milisavljević gets completely into the spirit of the piece’s very different movements. The solemn chordal writing of the opening, the scherzo’s spikiness and the inwardness of the two slow movements. . . are beautifully realised and welded together into an impressive whole.