# Favourite viola works



## MoonlightSonata

What are some of your favourite viola works? I've been looking for them a lot recently. Any contributions would be appreciated.
Edit: I just saw on Stupid Thread Ideas that I have 1001 posts... making this the thousandth. Is it really that many already? What a nice Christmas present!


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## musicrom

Some of my favorites:

*Vieuxtemps* - Capriccio "Hommage à Paganini" 
*Hindemith* - Der Schwanendreher
*Glinka* - Viola Sonata
*Schubert* - Arpeggione Sonata (arr.)
*Bruch* - Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola
*Mozart* - Sinfonia Concertante
*Hill* - Viola Concerto

(also, congratulations on your 1,001st post!)


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## MoonlightSonata

musicrom said:


> Some of my favorites:
> 
> *Vieuxtemps* - Capriccio "Hommage à Paganini"
> *Hindemith* - Der Schwanendreher
> *Glinka* - Viola Sonata
> *Schubert* - Arpeggione Sonata (arr.)
> *Bruch* - Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola
> *Mozart* - Sinfonia Concertante
> *Hill* - Viola Concerto
> 
> (also, congratulations on your 1,001st post!)


Thank you very much! I've only heard the Schubert and Bruch, I'll give the others a listen.


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## pianississimo

Shostakovitch, op 147 Viola Sonata. I only know about this because I recently bought a recording with cello rather than viola.
It's a very strange and dramatic and Shostakovichian sonata. I really like it.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Ligeti's sonata is a fairly obvious choice. Also, Hindemith's Trauermusik is fantastic.


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## MoonlightSonata

pianississimo said:


> Shostakovitch, op 147 Viola Sonata. I only know about this because I recently bought a recording with cello rather than viola.
> It's a very strange and dramatic and Shostakovichian sonata. I really like it.





ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Ligeti's sonata is a fairly obvious choice. Also, Hindemith's Trauermusik is fantastic.


Thanks, I hadn't heard any of these.


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## SeptimalTritone




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## TurnaboutVox

You could also try these:

Schumann:

Märchenbilder, Op.113 (for viola and piano)
Fantasiestücke, Op.73 (in the version for viola and piano)
Märchenerzählungen Op 132 (for viola, piano and clarinet)


György Kurtág:

Neun Stücke für Viola solo
Jelek, Op.5 (for solo viola)
Hommage à R. Sch., Op.15d (for piano, viola and clarinet)

and a composer who was a noted violist:


Paul Hindemith:

Viola Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4 (1919)
Viola Sonata, Op. 25 No. 4 (1922)
Viola Sonata (1939)
Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 11, No. 5 (1919)
Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25, No. 1 (1922)
Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 31, No. 4 (1923)
Sonata for Solo Viola (1937)


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## MoonlightSonata

SeptimalTritone said:


>





TurnaboutVox said:


> You could also try these:
> 
> Schumann:
> 
> Märchenbilder, Op.113 (for viola and piano)
> Fantasiestücke, Op.73 (in the version for viola and piano)
> Märchenerzählungen Op 132 (for viola, piano and clarinet)
> 
> György Kurtág:
> 
> Neun Stücke für Viola solo
> Jelek, Op.5 (for solo viola)
> Hommage à R. Sch., Op.15d (for ppiano, viola and clarinet)


Interesting... I haven't heard any Kurtag before and not much Haas.


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## dgee

Walton concerto and Flos Campi by RVW are nice


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## Dirge

Gustav HOLST: _Lyric Movement_ (for viola and small orchestra)
Aronowitz, I. Holst/ECO [Lyrita]

Holst's devoted daughter, Imogen, believes that in the expressive warmth of _Lyric Movement_ her father "came nearer than in any other work to reaching his own ideal of 'a tender austerity'." That sounds about right to me, as the work seems to exists in an English never-never land between the tenderness of St. Paul's Girls' School and the austerity of Egdon Heath. The lyricism is plaintive in tone but not in sentiment, and the dubiously resolved, slightly open harmonies lend the work's more pastoral passages a certain Debussyan quality that makes me think of _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un cow_. The relationship between soloist and orchestra is not unlike that typically found in a rhapsody or a romance (say, _The Lark Ascending_), but Holst takes that relationship in a decidedly less effusive and more austere direction.

I never paid much attention to _Lyric Movement_ until I heard Imogen Holst's "just so" recording with Aronowitz and the ECO-very nice.

* * *

Benjamin BRITTEN: _Lachrymae_ "Reflections on a song of Dowland" Op. 48a (for viola and strings)
:: Power, Volkov/BBC Scottish SO [Hyperion]

This seamless, mostly hushed and eerie set of variations & theme lurks in the nether frequencies and dynamics, with the soloist (viola) deviously making his way through the hushed orchestral shadows like an escaped leper trying to avoid the sun while eluding the CDC. The atmosphere is one of strange harmonies in a ghostly orchestral cloak until the music intensifies and builds to a climax near work's end; as the climax fades out and the music dissolves, the harmonies insidiously organize and coalesce into a sort of harmonic normalcy and the beautiful Dowland theme ("If my complaints could passions move") magically emerges in its original form for the first time, the viola and strings sounding together rather like a large viol consort-one of the most goosebump-inducing, "Ahhh"-inspiring moments in all of Britten. Theme & variations in reverse, then.

_Lachrymae_ was originally written for viola & piano in 1950; the piano part was arranged for small string orchestra (with no first violins) in 1976. I've always much preferred this later arrangement to the original, good as it is in its way. I've heard several other recordings of this dark and elusive work over the years, but I don't recall liking the work nearly as much as I do via this performance, what with its beautifully sustained tension and atmosphere throughout and beautifully unaffected presentation of the Dowland theme at work's end-and the recorded sound is excellent to boot. Power plays with great style and authority throughout and builds the climax with unmatched dramatic sense, making the transformation to the peaceful Dowland theme all the more effective.


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## MoonlightSonata

dgee said:


> Walton concerto and Flos Campi by RVW are nice





Dirge said:


> Gustav HOLST: _Lyric Movement_ (for viola and small orchestra)
> Aronowitz, I. Holst/ECO [Lyrita]
> 
> Holst's devoted daughter, Imogen, believes that in the expressive warmth of _Lyric Movement_ her father "came nearer than in any other work to reaching his own ideal of 'a tender austerity'." That sounds about right to me, as the work seems to exists in an English never-never land between the tenderness of St. Paul's Girls' School and the austerity of Egdon Heath. The lyricism is plaintive in tone but not in sentiment, and the dubiously resolved, slightly open harmonies lend the work's more pastoral passages a certain Debussyan quality that makes me think of _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un cow_. The relationship between soloist and orchestra is not unlike that typically found in a rhapsody or a romance (say, _The Lark Ascending_), but Holst takes that relationship in a decidedly less effusive and more austere direction.
> 
> I never paid much attention to _Lyric Movement_ until I heard Imogen Holst's "just so" recording with Aronowitz and the ECO-very nice.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Benjamin BRITTEN: _Lachrymae_ "Reflections on a song of Dowland" Op. 48a (for viola and strings)
> :: Power, Volkov/BBC Scottish SO [Hyperion]
> 
> This seamless, mostly hushed and eerie set of variations & theme lurks in the nether frequencies and dynamics, with the soloist (viola) deviously making his way through the hushed orchestral shadows like an escaped leper trying to avoid the sun while eluding the CDC. The atmosphere is one of strange harmonies in a ghostly orchestral cloak until the music intensifies and builds to a climax near work's end; as the climax fades out and the music dissolves, the harmonies insidiously organize and coalesce into a sort of harmonic normalcy and the beautiful Dowland theme ("If my complaints could passions move") magically emerges in its original form for the first time, the viola and strings sounding together rather like a large viol consort-one of the most goosebump-inducing, "Ahhh"-inspiring moments in all of Britten. Theme & variations in reverse, then.
> 
> _Lachrymae_ was originally written for viola & piano in 1950; the piano part was arranged for small string orchestra (with no first violins) in 1976. I've always much preferred this later arrangement to the original, good as it is in its way. I've heard several other recordings of this dark and elusive work over the years, but I don't recall liking the work nearly as much as I do via this performance, what with its beautifully sustained tension and atmosphere throughout and beautifully unaffected presentation of the Dowland theme at work's end-and the recorded sound is excellent to boot. Power plays with great style and authority throughout and builds the climax with unmatched dramatic sense, making the transformation to the peaceful Dowland theme all the more effective.


Thank you - lots of English music now!


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## elgar's ghost

Most of my favourite viola works have already been mentioned. Others worth considering are: 

Alfred Schnittke - Viola Concerto

Krzysztof Penderecki - Viola Concerto

Ernest Bloch - Suite for viola and piano 
- Suite Hébraïque for viola and piano
- Meditation and Processional for viola and piano 
- Suite for viola solo (unfinished) 

Max Reger - Three Suites for Solo Viola op. 131d


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## MoonlightSonata

elgars ghost said:


> Most of my favourite viola works have already been mentioned. Others worth considering are:
> 
> Alfred Schnittke - Viola Concerto
> 
> Krzysztof Penderecki - Viola Concerto
> 
> Ernest Bloch - Suite for viola and piano
> - Suite Hébraïque for viola and piano
> - Meditation and Processional for viola and piano
> - Suite for viola solo (unfinished)
> 
> Max Reger - Three Suites for Solo Viola op. 131d


I'll add these to my viola playlist...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Isn't there a piece by Morton Feldman.....?


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## SeptimalTritone

^ Rothko Chapel, I think?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

SeptimalTritone said:


> ^ Rothko Chapel, I think?


Actually I was thinking "The Viola in my Life"


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## starthrower

Bartok Viola Concerto

Also like the Hindemith pieces, Debussy trio, Schnittke.

Haven't heard the Walton concerto yet.


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## tdc

My favorites:

*Bach* - Viola Da Gamba Sonatas 
*Debussy*- Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp 
*Gubaidulina* - Viola Concerto


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## MoonlightSonata

tdc said:


> My favorites:
> 
> *Bach* - Viola Da Gamba Sonatas
> *Debussy*- Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
> *Gubaidulina* - Viola Concerto


A Gubaidalina one too? What a voyage of discovery this will be.


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## FerneKlang

How about Berlioz's Harold in Italy?


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## Kivimees

Rebecca Clarke - viola sonata:


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## Perotin

Brahms transcribed his Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120 also for viola.


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## Sashimi

I love Henri Casadesus's Concerto in C Minor, which he tried to pass off as J.C. Bach's work. The first movement is hilariously pompous, and the second is a tearjerker.

Also, Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto has a great viola part, if you want to take a look at that.


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## Fagotterdammerung

My favorite of _all_ viola works in showcasing the charms of the viola is *Rebecca Clarke*'s _Morpheus_. I actually like it more than her ( more often performed ) _Viola Sonata_.

I find viola concertos generally less flattering to the instrument than chamber works. None the less, I quite enjoy the *Bartok*, *Gubaidulina*, and the *Schnittke*. One viola concerto that's fallen into complete neglect - along with its composer - is *Lubor Bárta*'s Viola Concerto. I think it's well worth revival.






One series I highly recommend is _The History Of The Recorded Viola_. It touches on many unusual works, and some amazing arrangements ( the arrangements of a suite from Prokofiev's _Romeo and Juliet_ stand out especially ).


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## MoonlightSonata

Fagotterdammerung said:


> My favorite of _all_ viola works in showcasing the charms of the viola is *Rebecca Clarke*'s _Morpheus_. I actually like it more than her ( more often performed ) _Viola Sonata_.
> 
> I find viola concertos generally less flattering to the instrument than chamber works. None the less, I quite enjoy the *Bartok*, *Gubaidulina*, and the *Schnittke*. One viola concerto that's fallen into complete neglect - along with its composer - is *Lubor Bárta*'s Viola Concerto. I think it's well worth revival.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One series I highly recommend is _The History Of The Recorded Viola_. It touches on many unusual works, and some amazing arrangements ( the arrangements of a suite from Prokofiev's _Romeo and Juliet_ stand out especially ).


Interesting! Never heard _Morpheus_, but it sounds like I've been missing out.


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## Kivimees

dgee said:


> and Flos Campi by RVW are nice


I would add his Suite for Viola.


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## joen_cph

Not mentioned hitherto:

the viola concertos by _Takemitsu_ and _Holmboe_;

_Britten_´s early Double Concerto, with violin.

I found Pettersson´s (with Imai) disappointing, but it´s been a long time since I heard it. But I think it would need an alternative, "warmer" and more melodious recording.


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## Klavierspieler

Martinu - Viola Sonata






Chausson - Piece, Op. 39


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## Avey

If you are partial to the romantic sound and style...which I am...and based upon my interaction, so are you...

*Vaughan-Williams'* _Suite for Viola_ is a hidden, underrated masterpiece that you should not overlook.

As mentioned before, *Walton's* Viola Concerto is a _duhh_, listen to it. I agree with Brahms' viola sonatas, too.

But *RVW* is essential. Not only the _Suite_, but _Flos Campi_, similarly, is remarkable. Other instruments, including the Voice, take the lead in sections, but Viola is nonetheless at the forefront and present during much of this work.

Also, if we are just talking viola lines -- not necessarily solo pieces or monologues -- look to _Mahler's Tenth_ and _Dvorak's 12th Quartet_. To state the obvious.


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## Guest

TurnaboutVox said:


> You could also try these:
> 
> Schumann:
> 
> Märchenbilder, Op.113 (for viola and piano)
> Fantasiestücke, Op.73 (in the version for viola and piano)
> Märchenerzählungen Op 132 (for viola, piano and clarinet)
> 
> György Kurtág:
> 
> Neun Stücke für Viola solo
> Jelek, Op.5 (for solo viola)
> Hommage à R. Sch., Op.15d (for piano, viola and clarinet)
> 
> and a composer who was a noted violist:
> 
> Paul Hindemith:
> 
> Viola Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4 (1919)
> Viola Sonata, Op. 25 No. 4 (1922)
> Viola Sonata (1939)
> Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 11, No. 5 (1919)
> Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25, No. 1 (1922)
> Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 31, No. 4 (1923)
> Sonata for Solo Viola (1937)


More votes for Kurtag and Hindemith. Especially Kurtag performed by Kim Kashkashian.


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## Klavierspieler

Johann Baptist Vanhal - Sonata in E-Flat Major


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## cna

I don't know many Viola pieces but I like Vieuxtemps' Capriccio played by Anna Serova.
I assume it's a difficult piece to master.

Vieuxtemps - Capriccio

Anna Serova 
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