Violin & Viola Duet

December 17, 2005 at 09:44 PM · The duos by Ernst Eichner are very good. They are not as virtuosistic as Halvorsen's but they are great music and there is a little predominance of the viola part, which is uncommon in this kind of music.

This thread has lots and logs of suggestions:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/viola/message/73

I don't know these, but I'd look up:

Stamitz (op1, 6 duets) & Spohr (op13)

Pedro Kröger

December 17, 2005 at 10:20 PM · Try Halvorsen's arrangement of the Sarabande, coming from the same suite as the Passacaglia, wonderful piece. Also Spohr's E minor duet is quite challenging.

December 17, 2005 at 10:27 PM · You might try 2 Mozart Duos, K423, and K424. I guess they're not really hard, but they are fun and very Mozart! You might also try The Symphonie Concertante in E flat major by Mozart. This has a piano part, but its a lot of fun anyway.

Forgive me if these are old ideas!

Stephen

December 17, 2005 at 11:07 PM · I second Stephen's suggestions. I've played them and they are very fun and great music to play.

December 17, 2005 at 11:56 PM · Hi

The Bruch Double Concerto in the arrangement for Violin not clarinet might be a possibility, in particular the finale. It needs a piano accompaniment but is a light, happy piece that is heard to rarely!

Cheers

Ronan

December 18, 2005 at 12:01 AM · Hi,

There are lots of stuff. The Allesandro Rolla Duo Concertante is extremely virtuosic. Other great duets aside from the one mentioned above are the Ponce Sonate en Duo and Villa-Lobos Duo.

Cheers!

December 18, 2005 at 09:34 PM · More Mozart: "Kegelstatt" Trio, K498. It was originally written for clarinet, cello(?), and piano, but it can be successfully played on violin, viola, and piano.

December 19, 2005 at 03:01 AM · bruch also wrote a concerto-type work for violin and viola. it's quite stunning.

December 19, 2005 at 02:09 PM · Stamitz wrote at least one duo for violin and viola that is quite good.

December 19, 2005 at 05:32 PM · Bohuslav Martinu's Madrigals (3 of them) are for violin & viola. I heard them here in SF at a concert. They're demanding technically and musically. Very fun music to listen to (and probably play). Also, while Martinu is 20th century, the pieces were very melodic and accessible. At the end, the performance had the audience on its feet.

December 19, 2005 at 09:49 PM · There's also a Romantic Fantasy by Arthur Benjamin, Heifetz/Primrose recorded it, never heard it - has anyone else, what's it like?

November 3, 2009 at 06:45 AM ·

"Visconti Variations" for Violin & Viola. In four short movements.

January 26, 2010 at 02:43 PM ·

Check out my website for the largest list of existing repertoire for violin viola duo (as far as I know):

http://www.string-duo.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=5&Itemid=66

However  from experience I can tell that similar to the Halvorsen "Passacaglia" and "Sarabande", the “Three Madrigals”  by Martinu, the Milhaud Sonatina, the "Tango in c" by Gerhard Müller-Hornbach (to be published somewhen this year by Utorpheus Edizioni), the arrangent by Michael Kugel of the "Carnevale di Venezia" by Paganini, my arrangements of ”Invierno porteno”, ”El Desbande”, ”Otono porteno” by Piazzolla and the "Sleepy Hollow Suite" by John Alan Rose are very virtuoso pieces that have usually a great impact on the audience.

The same with some of the Alessandro Rolla Duos (e.g. from op.8 and op.10)