Best violin-violin duets for advanced players
What is your favorite violin-violin duet for amateur or semi-professional players?
It seems there are a lot of duet books for beginners, but finding interesting repetoire for advanced players takes a bit of knowledge. Any suggestions?
(My friend, Allison, and I are hoping to find some challenging but rewarding duets to share together.)
Many thanks,
Nathan
Replies (43)
What about bela bartok 44 duets?
Are they hard?
Last ones are...first like 25 are easy
Ysaye Sonata 0p.27
Allan Pettersson 6 sonatas
Why not try some Wieniawski, Sarasate, Bach and the Mozart Concertone. Perhaps the Prokofiev Double violin sonata is a good option
I am sure there are many more. Look around everywhere.
Anyway I hope this helps.
Jack
the vivaldi double violin concertos are great
There are some wonderful duettes by Teleman. These are technically not extremily difficult, but style wise, and chamber music wise, they are.
What about the Prokoviev Sonata for 2 violins in C? Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman made a recording of this, along with Prokoviev's 2 violin concertos, performed by Perlman. It's very good.
Schnittke's Moz-art 2 violins version.
I second the Schnittke and the Vivaldi. Both fantastic composers with great 2-violin works.
handel-halvorsen passacaglia is definitely at the top of my list. theres a great recording with heifetz and primrose.
Pardon me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the Heifetz - Primrose recording a duet for violin and viola?
Yes, is for violin and viola. They recorded it in 1941. Primrose began as a violinist and recorded some pieces on violin, but he turn early to the viola.
wow....I'm really sorry I completely misread the topic....anyways it's still a great duet right? haha my bad
part double concerto is great! I'm a huge fan of the Prokofieff duo sonata! Sarasate, Bach, Telemann, Schnittke, Bartok...there's an endless amount of great stuff!
Hi,
some unordered ideas just off the cuff:
- Charles de Beriot - some easy, some way out there
- Ignaz Pleyel - same thing
- Johann Wenzeslaw Kalliwoda
- Franz Anton Berwald
- Giardini
- W.A. Mozart - not really written for violin, but I wouldn't miss them; they were originally written for a wind instrument. There's an edition of Mozart arias arranged as violin duets. I don't know anything about their quality, but they are not by Mozart himself
- Leopold Mozart composed some duos for the French edition of his violin method
Bye, Juergen
Leclair wrote 6 sonatas for 2 violins.
There are some great duets on IMSLP. Mazas and Viotti in particular. Isn't there some story about Viotti writing all those violin duets for his young wife to play with him?
The greatest duet music for strings is the Mozart Duos for violin and viola - worth one of your violins learning to read alto clef for!
Leclair, Prokofiev, and Teleman (the canonic duos) spring to mind. If you can get a piano there's a ton of music out there (Sarasate's Navarra for example)
There are duets by Max Reger, too.
And for the masochistically inclined, the Gaviniès studies have been made into duets by Henry Marteau; they are on IMSLP.
Pleyel Duets? They're not too hard but they are still quite fun, or you could do the Bach Double. It's a good play even if you don't have an orchestra.
Hope you find something interresting!
Halvorsen Concert Caprice on Norwegian Melodies is delightful and challenging.
Try the 7 two violins sonatas by Allan Pettersson. Very interesting and very,very hard. You have also Honnegger sonatina, or th almost unknown Ysaye sonata.
Hi,
These duo's are nice:
* F. Fiorillo - 6 duo's, op. 14
*L. Boccherini - three duo's, op. 5
*J. Haydn - op. 99
*Ch. de Bériot - three duo's concertants, op. 57
Indeed, Viotti, Leclair, Pleyel: op.8 (easy), op. 23, op. 24 (much more advanced!)
*P. Hindemith
*Joh.Chr.Bach - duo's
Newly published:
*Alexander Igudesman - the catscratchbook. Bit like Bartok, short and nice. If you like music with a twist.
Also by Igudesman: Klezmer and more.
Have fun!
greetings,
Mirjam
I'll definitely vote for Bruce Dukov's variations on "Stars & Stripes (In Wieniawski style) " and his "Paganini variations on a Birthday theme". Wonderfully written (and difficult) and am amazed how Mr Dukov put in the Paganini and Wieniawski material along in the variations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1-NNQN8abo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD0wxki0_Gg
Hi-i would like to propose to you new notes for violin duet.
Popular Classic music arranged for your pleasure.
Here you find info about 4 books for violin duets or violin and viola duets.
https://www.facebook.com/VladimirBodunovnotes
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Best regards,
Vladimir
Nicola Mestrino
Tre Duetti Concertanti Op. 3
Greetings,
I may have missed it but I have to confess I am stunned nobody has mentioned the Bartok duets. of course a lot of them are fairly easy but stylistic , interpretive and nuances of bowing technique are very challenging. to seek perfection in all the markings and nuances Barton intended is a task worthy of any fine violinist. That is why Szigeti was such an advocate of their intensive study.
incidentally,, I have done these in joint recitals many times and they -always- bring the house down. also been recorded by some world class players although I forget who at this moment.
Give them a shot. Such great music should not go to wasted
Cheers,
buri
There's the Wieniawski duets for two violins which I really enjoy playing.
[Buri Jasmine mentioned the Bartoks above and they came up again with the emphasis no the ones after the first 25. Anyone that hasn't tried them is really missing something, they range from intriguing to totally nuts - great thing to do if you have a friend over to play and drink wine....]
But surely one of the most challenging violin duets ever is the Ysaye (also mentioned above) but in mind because of the almost unbelieveable recording by Leonid Kogan and his wife Elizabeth Gilels (sister of the famous pianist Emil). She was a cofinalist with Ostraich at the Queen Elizabeth and a truly sensational player in her own right - but there are not many extant recordings. For the intimacy and individual mastery of the violins this Ysaye duet recording is (IMO) a priceless masterpiece:
Gilels/Kogan Ysaye Sonata for Two Violins in Aminor
My favorites are Leclairs, especially this one.
Handel trio sonatas. Like all Handel, they take nuance and phrasing but are extremely satisfying.
Hello,
I use F Mazas Duette op.38 a lot, as well as W. Twarz' Mozart duette, not to forget Bartok, of course!
Best wishes,
Henriette de Vrijer
www.proamstrings.com
'...also been recorded by some world class players' (Buri). Indeed.
Perlman and Zukerman (on Youtube)
Suk and Gertler (on Spotify?)
Vegh and Lysy,
Menuhin and Gotkovsky (extracts only?)
Mordkovich (no other player credited - does she play both parts?)
Nothing from the Oistrakhs, unfortunately.
It's a mystery to me why they are not better known. I never encountered them as a player and even our local professional teacher/player doesn't seem to know them, though she knows of them. Hugely enjoyable to listen to and must be great fun to play.
I don't recall anything particularly memorable as a player. I did once read through some Bach 2-part inventions arranged for violin and viola. If there's a 2-violin arrangement it might be worth tracking down.
Greetings,
I have two other recordings. One of them is ,either Weilerstein or Preucil. gotta find those now...
Cheers,
buri
Prokofiev and ysaye
Here's a list of some modern literature.
In addition to the "Bach Double" don't forget the Bach Violin and Oboe concerto. The violin part has passages which, I think, are slightly more difficult that anything in the former; the oboe part is, I think, slightly easier.
Dear violinists,
I would like to show to you my new video and present for you new arrangements of popular classic music for 2 violin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YDRfFYYBl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoKVRau2dPo
Here you find 4 books for 2 violin:
https://www.baerenreiter.com/nc/suche/schnellsuche/?tx_indexedsearch%5Bsword%5D=bodunov&tx_indexedsearch%5Bsubmit_button%5D=
Best regards,
Vladimir Bodunov
The recording I have of the 44 Bartok Duos is by György Pauk and Kazuki Sawa. It is available from Amazon either as a CD (Naxos) or as a mp3 download.
My teacher is very keen on Bartok and other Eastern European music, and we'd often finish a lesson by sight-reading (i.e. me doing the sight-reading!) one of the Bartok Duos or Hungarian/Romanian folk fiddle duets.
Vladimir's enjoyable video reminds me that Mozart is an excellent source for duet material if you're prepared to search it out, both instrumental and vocal, and do your own arranging.
Not difficult, but great fun - Mazas op 38, 39 etc.
Available on Virtual Sheet Music and probably on IMSLP
Years ago I arranged Bazzini's Dance of the Goblins for two violins without piano accompaniment. Thus each player, whenever he's not playing the solo part, must switch instantly to accompaniment. Easy enough when you get 16 measures at a time, but harder when you start alternating fast and furious!
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July 24, 2004 at 02:24 AM · Spohr duets are a must...