Viola repertoire suggestions
I am looking for some short, showy, fun viola pieces for my daughter. On viola she is working on Hindemith "Der Schwanendreher," Bach Cello Suites, and Campagnoli 41 Caprices and is in the "doldrums".
She isn't adverse to polishing pieces; but she loves having new challenges.
On violin she recently got several new pieces and is excited. (Novacek's Perpetuo Moto, Sarasate Navarra for Two violins, Sarasate Caprice Basque) She's also working on Solo Bach and Wieniawski Violin Concerto #2
She needs some new viola music. Suggestions?
Replies (18)
Wow, that sounds like a lot of lit. for a student who is playing both violin & viola. I studied voice,piano and violin, now play violin, viola, several fiddle styles, piano, sing, and have "hobby" instruments like guitar & ukelele on the side. I can say that very regularly I "favor" something, then switch off. It is a little different than "doldrums".
How about Mark Summer's Julie-O.
For viola solo, or viola and piano/orchestra?
Three off the top of my head that are viola solo, shortish, and somewhat showy:
Vieuxtemps Capriccio, Penderecki Cadenza, and the Berio Sequenza VI.
Vieuxtemps was my first thought. The Ysaÿe's Sonata is quite showy and a challenge. For something along the lines of Bach, the Reger Suites are great.
Viola=Fun? .... You must be joking! Seriously though that is a lot of repertoire for Violin AND viola to be learning and I would say that she is doing too much and possibly being driven too hard - although I don't know any of the background. But to answer your question ...
The Telemann Fantasias are nice solo works for viola. They are published by "Viola World". There is also a viola version of Sonata #12 by Corelli (the Follia con Variazioni) by the same publisher which is a lot of fun and grade 8 standard. In fact I would go through the published list of Alan Arnold arrangements published by Viola World as most of the pieces are short and I am sure you would find something you all like.
Some new (2013) short fun compositions for Viola and Violin are free to download at:
http://javiertrevino.musicaneo.com/
Violady 1VA is a short piece for viola solo
Viorations 41V is a fun short piece for violin solo.
Simply click "Sheet Music" for the list of compositions. Click the play button to hear midi samples of each piece. Click the title to download the pdf for free. Enjoy!
Here are a few suggestions that are more along the "short, showy" lines that you requested.
- Polish Dance by Edmund Severn
- Hungarian Dances No. 1 & 3 by Brahms/Arr. Forbes
- Adante E Rondo Ongarese by Weber
- Sonatensatz by Brahms/Arr. Katims (I personally much prefer this piece on viola)
- Three American Pieces for Viola solo by Aaron Minsky/Transc. Dalton
- 2nd or 3rd movement of Marchenbilder by Schumann
- For a real challange, Primrose did a book of transcriptions called The Virtuoso Violist which is full of fun show pieces.
Hope this helps!
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
Lindan found the Julie-O,which she heard last summer at camp. She likes the music, but the thought of slapping her instrument is..ah..unusual..ah.. abhorrent. The rest of the family lives in fear of accidentally brushing against her violin/viola in it's case and getting our eyes scratched out. This kid is seriously protective of her instruments.
I found the Vientemps Bb on IMSLP and downloaded it. We're trying to check other suggestions out on YouTube, or looking to see if they are on IMSLP.
As to the question of whether I'm looking for solo, with piano or orchestra; it doesn't really matter. These are "enrichment" activities as they would say in regular education.
I know it seems like a lot. It is! But when she has a lot on her plate she gets excited and enthusiastic. When she has a lot of "enrichment" she works harder on her "work".
Again, thank you for suggestions.
I just published a new solo viola piece yesterday called Violicity 2VA. You can find it here:
http://javiertrevino.musicaneo.com/
Simply click "Sheet Music" for the list of compositions. Find Violicity then click the play button to hear midi sample. Click the title to download the pdf for free. Enjoy!
If she's interested in the Märchenbilder, please look up the Wikipedia article on them first.
There are also the Brahms clarinet/viola sonatas (He himself specified them for either instrument, quite significant when one considers that it was a clarinet player that inspired him).
York Bowen wrote some good stuff for the viola.
The Purcell G-minor violin sonata is one of my favourite pieces and also goes down well on the viola. When I performed it, I simply put it down an octave, except for the last 5 quavers of bar 28 plus bar 29 in the second movement (which I played slightly softer, to compensate for the minor 14th upwards jump); I also went into octaves for the climax of the third movement, which horrifies purists but the audience loved it. The J. Frederick Bridge realisation is out of copyright, and I had to beg a copy from the National Library of Canada; however, it is now commercially available at http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk/details.php?ref=62881 . Much later, I saw Watson Forbes's arrangement, in which he puts the 2nd movement passage into the piano part, but I still prefer to keep it on the viola and jump up.
If she can get hold of a contralto, the Brahms songs are just marvellous. Kathleen Ferrier's viola player interpreted them the same way I try to.
I made a transcription of Dowland's Melancholy Galliard for solo viola ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/z1xqynwcejz2tor/DowlandMelancholyGalliardViola.pdf ). Your daughter will have to make a better job of playing it than I can (not a difficult feat - I don't tackle Schwanendreher), if she wants to perform it.
I think the "Handel"-Casadesus Viola Concerto is considerably more underrated today than it was overrated when it was believed to be genuinely by Handel. It's worth playing.
Definitely take a look at Vaughan William's Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra (not to be confused with his 6 folk song suite for viola). There's a total of 8 movements, but it's divided into 3 groups. Here's Maxim Rysanov playing the Prelude and Galop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPnvVy3CuIc
Lawrence Power has a really great recording of all movements on iTunes.
The Carol is just lovely, and the Christmas Dance was Grade 8 when I was looking at that Grade, well worth playing.
Kenny omitted to mention that the version for viola and piano is perfectly playable and performable.
There's also the little prawns from Firenze, but musically it's not as tractable and I haven't heard of a piano reduction.
A piano reduction of Harold in Italy exists, but it's by Liszt!!! (I can testify that, if you're just talking about playing the notes, the orchestral first violin part presents more technical demands than the entire viola part)
Just discovered that the Bach Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard have been arranged for viola.
Vaugh Williams romance for viola and Bloch's Suite hébraïque
Hi,
At the risk of self advertising...
But if you play with friends my trio and quartets may be better. Being a viola player I make sure there is equality of interest if I can for all players!
Rupert
Vieuxtemps Cappriccio!
Here's a recent piece by French composer Pascal Martines; Opéra extique. It was part of a concert/spectacle called "La Cuisine à l'alto" (Viola Cuisine) - pieces featuring viola around the theme of cuisine.
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April 15, 2013 at 01:20 AM · Vieuxtemps' Sonatas, the Bb major and also the Unfinished (also Bb major), are nice, but if your daughter isn't doing the polishing bit, then I'd also suggest his Elegie, although the slow tempo nature may not sound too showy.
Or, you may try looking into the viola transcription of Ysaÿe's Cello Sonata, published by The White Prince Edition www.thewhiteprince.com
How about Piazzolla's Grand Tango the viola version? Recently I'm trying out Paul Schoenfield's Viola Concerto, which sounds a bit like Shostakovich style.