Melia Watras

String Masks

Planet M Records (2022)

Planet M Records presents String Masks, the new album of compositions by violist/composer Melia Watras. The titular work, String Masks, incorporates actors and Harry Partch instruments to dive into a fantastical vision of an underworld inhabited by string-playing legends from the past. The album also showcases solo works for viola, cello and voice, and her string trio, Kreutzer.

Melia Watras, viola ● Charles Corey, Harmonic Canon and Bass Marimba ● Sheila Daniels, actor/director ● Frequency: Lim, Watras, Thorsteinsdóttir ● Jose Gonzales, actor ● Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin and voice ● Rhonda J. Soikowski, actor ● Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello and voice ● Bonnie Whiting, Cloud-Chamber Bowls

Producer: Judith Sherman ●  Engineer: David Sabee ● Engineering assistant: Dave West ● Editing: Judith Sherman and Jeanne Velonis

All compositions by Melia Watras (b. 1969)
Kreutzer for violin, viola and cello (2016)
① I. Adagio-Febbrile 4:58
② II. Danza 2:29
③ III. Lento 3:36
④ IV. Allegro agitato 2:29
Frequency: Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin; Melia Watras, viola, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello

⑤ Black wing, brown wing for viola solo (2019) 5:35
Melia Watras, viola

⑥  Vetur öngum lánar lið for voice (2016) 1:58
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, voice

⑦ Vetur for cello solo (2016) 9:07
Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello

String Masks for voices, viola, violin, Harmonic Canon, Cloud-Chamber Bowls and Bass Marimba (2017)
⑧ Transience 11:55
⑨ Crossing 3:40
⑩ Welcome 7:57
Sheila Daniels, actor/director; Jose Gonzales, actor; Rhonda J. Soikowski, actor; Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin and voice; Melia Watras, viola; Charles Corey, Harmonic Canon and Bass Marimba; Bonnie Whiting, Cloud-Chamber Bowls

World premiere recording