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Rue’s latest major work, 8 Sonnets for Violin, is a 25-minute cycle for solo violin written in collaboration with Tokyo-based violinist Riho Kishikawa. The collaboration began when Riho was invited to perform Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 108 with Rue Yamauchi at the piano during an a cappella choir concert in Tokyo in September 2025, where Rue also served as music director and conductor. Their musical connection during the April 2025 rehearsals inspired Rue to begin composing the Sonnets, which were completed that June.​​

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In July, the duo met in Tokyo for the first reading, refining bowings and phrasings together. Riho noted that, unlike much contemporary solo violin repertoire—which often pushes technical limits through dense double-stops—Rue’s Sonnets unfold like songs. She described the violin part as“a voice,” shaped by phrasing rooted in classical traditions. This approach invites freedom: rubato in an agitato passage, tenuto for dolce or espressivo markings—an expressive elasticity rarely offered in modern works. For Riho, the greatest challenge was embracing this freedom, particularly in the first movement, marked Andante. Restless and Agitated. Molto espressivo e rubato quasi recitativo—a reference to Beethoven’s recitative in the Tempest Sonata. She remarked that, while many new works demand strict precision, Rue’s score offers the interpretive openness of the great masterworks—“refreshing,”in her words.​​​​

 

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The cycle unfolds across eight contrasting movements:

I. Andante. Restless and Agitated — a recitative-like opening, expressive and unsettled.

II. Moderato. Calm — music suspended, moving slowly as if time has stopped.

III. Allegro con fuoco — explosive, rough, and almost frenzied.

IV. Andante con sentimento — dolente,“painfully sad,”in a slow 3/4 with 6 beats.

V. Comodo. A folksong — with echoes of Bartók, modal and rustic.

VI. Lento. Serenade — in D-flat major, tender and melancholic, like an early summer breeze.

VII. Allegretto. Waltz — noble in character, shifting to a stormy marcato of anger and despair.

VIII. Andantino cantabile. Farewell — a closing in D major, tinged with resignation and acceptance.

 

Structurally, Rue drew inspiration from Shakespeare’s sonnet form, using the ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyme scheme as a compositional blueprint. While the first movement follows this pattern closely, the later movements reinterpret it more freely. Each sonnet is cast in three sections, separated by double bars—not in the sonata tradition of development and recapitulation, but as three distinct themes presented in succession.

 

Importantly, Rue emphasizes that all metronome markings are approximate. The performer is encouraged to“feel”the music and bring it to life with personal nuance and freedom of expression.

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