Elliot Weisgarber credited his 1965 Sonata for Violoncello Unaccompanied as his first intercultural work, but his Suite for Viola and Piano, completed on Christmas Day eighteen months earlier, actually marks the beginning of his new direction in compositional style. Its pentatonic passages (particularly in the third movement), its deep, temple bell-like resonances in the piano, and pizzicato sections reminiscent of the sharp snaps of a shamisen, bear the unmistakable influence of Japanese music in which Weisgarber had immersed himself since the fall of 1962.

Originally conceived as his second Viola Sonata, Weisgarber pulled it apart and renamed it following a recognition by its dedicatees that its first three movements constituted a set of pieces with a unique character. The fourth movement, of sufficient length to stand on its own, was removed and now appears in Weisgarber’s catalogue with the title Allegro assai.