The Arrival of Z Music

March 22, 2010 at 12:52 AM

The first piece of my Z-A goal arrived Friday: CF Zelter's Concerto in E-minor.

Zelter was a contemporary of Hoffmeister and Stamitz, so I had a little bit of an idea of what I was getting into before the piece arrived. At first it didn't look all that bad, then I did a double-take when I saw the tempo markings. "A little fast" would be an understatement. I gave it a run through at a much slower tempo and discovered that it was comfortable "under the hand" so to speak. With work, I should be able to take it up to tempo.

In addition to the Z-music, I also received a collection Rebbecca Clarke's shorter pieces for viola and piano. Clarke is one of my favorite composers for viola. The collection includes "Passacaglia on an Old English Tune", "I'll Bid My Heart Be Still", two lullabies, an untitled work, and "Chinese Puzzle". I fell in love with the first two instantly. Though the Passacaglia would need some work to perform, the "I'll Bid My Heart Be Still" is quite easy to play and absolutely beautiful. I'll be performing that piece at church in a few weeks.

It is tempting to put down what I'm working on now to begin working on the new music, but it will wait until I can finally make it through Sitt's Concertpiece, which could be several more weeks at least. Sitt is more difficult that I had first anticipated - somewhat like how Brahms is under the hand: constant shifting in just about every position, accidentals that cause intonation accidents, and a prolific use of second position. Challenging, but fun.

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