Sentimental work: Jennifer Stumm on Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata

I was 20 years old when I first heard Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata. I was in my third year at the Curtis Institute of Music and I heard it as part of a student recital. What I remember most clearly about that performance was the opening: it sounded like a battle cry, a really forceful statement that led into an amazing juggernaut of joy and power, which continued right through the first page. I loved the idea of playing something with such immense vitality at the start of a concert, as if to say, ‘Here I am, and here’s the viola – take it or leave it.’