Which do you think is more suitable?

July 29, 2023, 11:56 PM · I’ve never been a fan of working on two concertos at the same time. My personal suggestion is Viotti and the Bach.

July 30, 2023, 6:39 AM · one concerto and one Bach piece seems more logical than two concertos!

July 30, 2023, 8:01 AM · I would do the Viotti and the Bach. Learning the whole Bach (all movements) will take awhile anyway, so good to get started on it. While the first two movements of Bruch are not that hard, the third movement is significantly harder, so you want as many skills as possible before tackling that.

Edited: July 30, 2023, 10:44 AM · One of my prior teachers, highly respected, recommended that serious students, those that intend to become professionals, Not study the major concertos until their technique and musicianship were entirely ready. You can get bad technical habits or get stuck in a primitive interpretation. By that standard, the Viotti is the better choice. For the Bach selection, the single-note movements are at a lower technical level. That famous Prelude has one awful bowing problem. Some earlier choices can be the Bach keyboard/violin Sonatas, a transcription of the Cello Suites, and the Telemann Fantasias. For students doing violin just for the enjoyment, the inherent value of doing music; go ahead and try the concerto that you want to do.

July 30, 2023, 11:20 AM · Do you have a teacher? If so, what does that s/he recommend? If you do not have a teacher, why not?

Edited: July 30, 2023, 9:07 PM · Tom - you may want to re-read the OP ;)

Another vote for the Bach - simply because it is such a marvelous piece and such a contrast to the Viotti.

[Isn't the Bruch rather more advanced than the Viotti? Seems that they should be in sequence, not together...]

July 30, 2023, 11:18 PM · Have you played all the movements of the Kabalevsky? If not, you should.

Viotti 22 is typically done before the Kabalevsky, but if your teacher still thinks it's suitable, strongly consider it in conjunction with the Bach.

Bruch is a leap up. I think you'd be better off solidifying your technical skills first.

July 30, 2023, 11:30 PM · Viotti 22 isn’t an easy concerto.

July 31, 2023, 7:44 PM · I think I'll do the Bach. As for Viotti 22, my violin teacher gave it to me before Kabalevsky, but as I found it much harder, she let me go ahead and do all 3 movements of the Kabalevsky instead. I took a look at the Bruch, and the first 2 movements seem approachable, but as a few of you have mentioned, the third movement is quite a step up.

July 31, 2023, 9:08 PM · I agree that Viotti 22 is not easier than Kabalevsky. It's a good concerto. I found it very rewarding to work on. You might as well get started on the movement of the E major partita as well.