Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Core Repertoire: Viola Concertos

Here is a list of the most frequently performed viola concertos in the repertoire. Remember that in most concerto reductions, the piano part can be fiddled with to make it both more pianistic and more orchestral. In case you're looking for a more comprehensive list, consult the Wikipedia article on viola concertos.





Look inside this title
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (2va,pf) - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (2va,pf) By Johann Sebastian Bach. Edited by Forbes. For 2 viola, piano. BWV 1051 (B-flat) arranged for two violas and piano. This reduction casts the pianist in the role of both orchestra and continuo. One of the most eloquent of the Brandenburg Concertos and requires an idiomatic sense of a Baroque orchestra's finesse and lightness.
See more info...





Viola Concerto in D Major - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Viola Concerto in D Major Piano Reduction. By Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Edited by N. Gertsch, J. Ronge. Viola. The Hoffmeister is another concerto for developing players at the intermediate level. Not difficult for the pianist and the Henle reduction is quite pianistic.
See more info...





Viola Concerto in F Major (Piano / Viola) - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Viola Concerto in F Major (Piano / Viola) For Viola and Piano Reduction. By Karl Ditters Von Dittersdorf. Schott. This is one of the most frequently played concertos for developing violists. The reduction isn't terribly difficult, and only needs a few minor adjustments in order to sound more like an eighteenth-century orchestra.
See more info...





Viola Concerto No. 1 in D Major - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com Viola Concerto No. 1 in D Major By Carl Stamitz (1745-1801), edited by A. Weibezahn, N. Gertsch. Single piece and set of performance parts for Viola and piano. Urtext edition (Paper-bound). Published by G. Henle. An integral concerto in the viola repertoire, and one often played by developing violists as a transitional work between the intermediate and advanced levels.
See more info...





Harold in Italy By Hector Berlioz. Arranged by Franz Liszt. For Viola, Piano. Published by Billaudot. Is it a symphony, a symphonic poem, or a concerto? Loosely based on Lord Byron's Childe Harolde, this wonderful hybrid work requires plenty of orchestral thought in order to pull off the somewhat lengthy tuttis.
See more info...





Look inside this title
Romance for Viola and Orchestra in F Major Op. 85 - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Romance for Viola and Orchestra in F Major Op. 85 Piano Reduction - with Comments in English. By Max Bruch. Edited by N. Gertsch. Viola. Published by G. Henle. Some of Bruch's late-romantic writing can be a little tricky in this reduction, but ultimately a satisfying work to play.
See more info...





Look inside this title
Der Schwanendreher (1935-1936) - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Der Schwanendreher (1935-1936) After Old Folksongs Viola and Piano. By Paul Hindemith. Schott. This modern work is a mainstay of most violists' concerto repertory. The orchestration has a lightness of texture that is not always evident in Hindemith's piano reduction, and although mostly pianistic, you might need some minor tweaks in order to pull it off.
See more info...





Look inside this title
Viola Concerto, Op. Posth. - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Viola Concerto, Op. Posth. Viola and Piano Reduction. By Bela Bartok. (Viola). Boosey and Hawkes Chamber Music. 72 pages. Published by Boosey & Hawkes. Unfinished by Bartok at his death, the viola concerto was completed by Tibor Serly. This late work requires a thorough knowledge of Bartok's unique orchestral sound.
See more info...





Look inside this title
Concerto For Viola and Orchestra - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com
Concerto For Viola and Orchestra Edited by Christopher Wellington, composed by William Walton (1902-1983). Set of performance parts for solo viola and piano accompaniment. 59 pages. Published by Oxford University Press. This is another of the most popular 20th-century viola concertos. This concerto demands a fair amount of practice and rehearsal but rewards the time spent. Take time to listen to orchestral recordings so you can capture the grandeur and humor of Walton's orchestration.
See more info...

5 comments:

  1. You forgot Walton, my favorite of all. :) It's on (or was on) the list of concerti to audition for Music Academy of the West, and rightfully so.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and Hoffmeister! I almost blocked out Hoffmeister because I'm not overly fond of it (and my cat, significantly, threw up on a copy of it). Also, J.C. Bach has shown up for me a number of times with young ones.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, I wrote J.C. Bach but meant the Casadesus one... it's cute. But definitely Hoffmeister and Walton.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chiarinaestrella, I added the Hoffmeister and Walton. Perhaps they're blotted from my memory through overplaying. Thanks for the suggestions--you da concerto machine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha! :) I really do adore the Walton... then again, I've yet to overplay it, but for me, I think that will be tough. Hoffmeister, however... *shudder* My cat was right. I wish more people would do Harold in Italy, but sadly, there are some really questionable responses from competitions for that - many claim that it is not a concerto, but the first movement most certainly is.

    I do feel like a concerto machine... my busy season started this month, and I just seem to be cranking them out wholesale. The Ravel G Major piano concerto reduction is a beast, and I'm not having fun changing it around - it just won't sound good no matter what I do, and it's really chewing up a lot of time when I have some scary things down the pipeline (Shostakovich piano 1).

    ReplyDelete