Treasured Heart (2014) was written for and is dedicated to Jorgeandres Camargo and Georgina McKay Lodge, who suggested the idea of a piece for this most unusual duo combination.

Using the inherent sonic warmth of both instruments, the resulting work is a brief rhapsody with a text consisting simply of the work’s title in Spanish (“corazón atesorado”).

When confronting this combination of forces, the tendency might be to spread the two musicians as far apart as possible—using the viola in a violin-like manner in its upper range while the bass voice stays below. However, to do so would rob the viola of its most wonderful and characteristic register. Thus the balance must be achieved through other means, since the two voices so often occupy the same space. In the slow outer sections, the contrast is achieved primarily through antiphony. In the faster middle part, it is texture that distinguishes: the bass is lyrical and flowing, while the viola is energetically pulsing.