Looking for solo intermediate violin music.
I am looking for some intermediate violin music that can be played solo. Any ideas?
Replies (13)
Do you mean solo as in unaccompanied?
Handel Concertos - they have very few rests so can be played as solo entry level partitas! My favorite (which I performed unaccompanied) is the first movement to #4.
Of course if you can find a pianist or cellist to play with life becomes amazing...
The website www.virtualsheetmusic.com is really worth a visit as it also grades the difficulty of its music and supplies MP3 and Midi backup.
If* you can get hold of Paganini's 36 "Lucca" duets for violin and guitar you'll find they can be played as solos. It is mostly intermediate level music, none of it at Paganini's usual virtuoso level, and the tunes are absolutely delightful. The quicker second movements are often based on folk tunes or popular music of the time. There's even an English folk tune in there – "Mrs Winter's Delight" (don't ask!).
* For several months I've been trying to track down a publisher of the Lucca sonatas – my usual retail source appears to be drawing a blank – but this music has been recorded by Luigi Bianchi, so it must be available somewhere. A lot of it is at a level where learning by ear is feasible, so this is something I may have to do. Learning by ear, if appropriate, can often be the best way.
Just to clarify Eloise's response: by the Hungarian Dance she probably means some adaptation for students as can be found in student play books. The original Hungarian Dances by Brahms are virtuoso level and definitely not intermediate level.
Theme from Schindler's List is also quite hard to play beautifully. It is popular and beautiful music, I would encourage you to give it a try, but expect to study hard on it before it begins to sound even remotely as your audience may recognize it!
Something I would recommend is the well known Serenade by Haydn. The notes are not difficult but is a piece you can keep on polishing forever and you become a much better violinist by trying to play it as honestly and cleanly as possible.
Another classic and popular intermediate solo piece, which again is much harder to play beautifully than just to play the notes, is Fiocco's Allegro (known from the Suzuki school).
Another one is Meditation from Thais by Massenet. That is a piece recorded by the virtuoso's, but this one has the advantage that it quickly starts sounding good. In a sense it is easier than the Haynd Serenade because there is more sound you can hide behind!
Here's a few I like. Theme from Swan Lake - Tschaikowsky, Tarantelle - Hans Sitt, Elefentanz - Jenkinson, La Folia - Corelli.
I recall you are working in the middle-level Suzuki books. If by solos you mean short pieces and/or excerpts of about that level, mostly w/piano acc., you could look at Solotime for Strings books 3-5 and Barbara Barber's compilations. The main drawback is that her books aren't completely sequential, so you might end up skipping the first book, playing some of the 2nd-4th, then stepping back to the harder pieces. The upside is these books are loaded w/teaching pieces well-known to teachers & students between about 1930 & 1970, at minimal cost to today's buyer since B. sought out permission from owners of copyrights to include pieces we otherwise had to buy singly or hope we'd saved (for many years.) Sue
Jean, thanks for that clarification - I totally forgot to mention that. Yes, I mean a version that has been simplified. It's still great though ;D
Elise,
Yes, I mean solo as in unaccompanied music.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Dion,
I did check out the www.virtualsheetmusic.com, and it has a lot of good stuff. Thanks for the info.
There is a lot of choice at virtual sheet music - but just be aware that many of the pieces are not in the original keys (and sometimes also adaptations of adaptations). Thats how they can copyright them (a pet peeve of mine).
Elise:
That is a very good ‘pet peeve’, and thank you for letting me know.
www.virtualsheetmusic.com
Most classical music is in the public domain and is free from copy right. Copy right only applies to music written less than 70 years after the composers death or first publication. For the easier categories the music may be adapted and are also transcribed for other than the original instruments. But this website is brilliant in the variety and complexity that it offers. For instance the Meditation from Thais seems to be exactly like the way the guys play it on YouTube. So the pet peeve seems to be a bit absurd.
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November 4, 2010 at 09:30 PM ·
Not sure if it is quite as intermediate as you'd want, but one of my favourite pieces EVER is 'Sarabande in G Minor' by Carl Bohm. It can be found in Volume 2 of 'Solos for young Violinists' and it contains other pieces too.
Another piece I love playing is the Schindler's List Theme tune. I think you can buy that as separate music, or with some of the other pieces from the film there too.
Of course, 'Hungarian Dance' by Brahms is great to play too. I think there are many things out there, it is just finding and looking for them!
Have fun!