When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes is a taut, muscular, and propulsive work that is loosely based on the classical scherzo form. But, it is a deconstructed scherzo: haunted by the gestures and energy of the remarkable Scherzo from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, but not adhering to the formal, tonal, or rhetorical principles of that movement or its historical period. I have always loved and been fascinated by Beethoven’s Scherzo feeling that it was not of its time, more the “heavy metal Mother of All Scherzi” than a movement from a 19^th Century symphony. Shards of Beethoven’s piece hover throughout this Scherzo.

When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes’ dark intensity and jarring fragmentation reflect my response to a dear friend’s recent harrowing period of intense emotional turmoil. There were moments when what was familiar suddenly shifted to being foreign and impenetrable. I watched as reality seemed to lose its grip and disintegrate for my friend. I could see it in her eyes. Simple every day exchanges were bafflingly and suddenly interrupted by abrupt descents into perplexing, enigmatic confusion and odd conversational tangents. The amount of energy expended by all involved was extraordinary, and utterly exhausting. It was a scary and jarring time.

The difficulty of the work lays not so much in any technical challenge, but in articulating and maintaining the work’s dramatic arc and pulse, all while navigating the sudden interruptions and shifts between ideas and sections. One whole made from many parts. It must maintain its drive and be more than a series of episodes. To paraphrase the old vaudeville joke: the key to its success is… timing! It also requires a sense of color to make the general intensity of the movement not monochromatic. 

A scherzo frames the movement. The opening section states the propulsive Scherzo idea, but is full of jarring interruptions. This segues into what would be the Trio section, providing a bit of relief. The ever-shifting meters and irregular phrasing undercut the simplicity of the legato Trio theme. What follows are compressed and developed recapitulations of both the Scherzo and Trio material. The second Trio restatement is abruptly shorn off by an exhausting, scrambling episode that frequently fixates on a syncopated rhythm accented by double stops on the open strings. A brief, mocking restatement of the Trio is presented followed by a final return of the opening Scherzo theme. But, the piece doesn’t have a conclusion. It simply cycles and then runs out of steam, ending depleted.

I’d like to especially thank the exceedingly gracious violist Natasha Vershilova Daniels and violinist/violist Scott St. John for their invaluable assistance.

It’s gratifying when performers respond positively to your work. A number of exceedingly fine violists have performed it: Andrew Gonzalez, Dana Kelley, Teng Li, Derek Smith, and many others.

When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes was commissioned by the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and was premiered during the semifinalist round of the 2013 Klein Competition on June 8, 2013 in San Francisco, CA.

There is a solo violin edition available.

“Most impressive of all was Joel Friedman’s When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes (2013) for solo viola. Using the Scherzo from Beethoven’s Ninth, Friedman wrote the piece after witnessing a friend having a nervous breakdown. Fragments of the Beethoven appear and retreat, then reappear, angrily and obsessively, with more frenzied harmonizations. In [Andrew] Gonzalez’s hands, the results were harrowing.”          Bruce Hodges, The Strad

“Joel Friedman’s solo viola work, When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes, brought more intensity and emotional darkness. This is a technically and expressively demanding piece, ably played by Andrew Gonzalez. The piece uses material from the scherzo of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a jumping-off point. Friedman puts that into minor key, adds dissonances, repeats interior fragments, then uses the same techniques to spiral into more broad-limbed writing. The obsessive and interesting, off-kilter quality of the music was apparent, even without Friedman’s remarks about the personal turmoil that marked his compositional process.”   George Grella, New York Classical Review