Melia Watras, a foremost performing violist and professor of viola, has commissioned a good number of composers for new works for her instrument. In her commission of Ran, she requested that a starting point be an excerpt from any established work in the viola's repertoire of Ran's choosing. Ran immediately turned to the haunting viola solo passage from Luciano Berio's Black Is the Color (from Folksongs). While the Berio is infused throughout Ran's Perfect Storm, she has crafted a sonic landscap