Concerts and Concertos

November 26, 2007 at 7:14 AM

The next few weeks are busy ones music-wise for me. Tomorrow night is HSO's final rehearsal before the concert this Friday and Saturday. After a very short break, I play in a church Christmas Concert with our principal violist conducting.

I passed my "Allemanda" test, with a reminder that this is NOT a waltz (I started playing it more 3/8 than 4/4, and dancing while I played...) I was never a good dancer. I now have a 3/8 time signature with a circle and slash through it on the top of this piece.

Courante is proving to be relatively simple with the exception of one chord - got to find a better way to approach this. The biggest challenge is remembering to keep the bowing hooked where we wrote in "slurs". I think I'm going to erase the slurs and just write in the up/up or down/down bowings. It's a mental thing :)

I finally have my concerto choices down to two: Bruch Romanze and Hummel's Fantasie for Viola and Orchestra. I've studied the Bruch for several months, and I believe I can get it up to the level needed for a performance. I haven't played Hummel yet outside of a quick run-through this weekend. This is an interesting and fun piece. It ranges from romantic, whimsical, and what I think of as a "traditional concerto virtuosity", with energetic runs of 16th notes up and down all the strings with finalistic chords.

So after finishing up with 5th Suite over the next few weeks, Bruch will get the dust blown off of it, and Hummel will be subjected to my teacher's pencil ministrations to change the bowings, fingers, dynamics, etc..

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Concerts and Concertos

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