# Concertino for Viola and String Orchestra



## musicrom

I finally finished my Viola Concertino. I posted the first movement earlier on, but now it's pretty much complete. It's my largest piece so far (at nearly 7 minutes, which for many of you, I'm sure, isn't a lot, but for me it's pretty long). I'd highly appreciate any criticism, suggestions, or comments on my piece, so if you have any, please do so!


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## Bruce

I'm not very articulate when it comes to writing reviews, but I think this is rather nice. I find the harmonic structure very pleasant and easy on the ears; perhaps in a few select places, an adventurous harmonic turn or two would add even more interest, and increase the sense of tension and relaxation I experience listening to this piece.


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## Albert7

Lovely piece musicrom .


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## Fagotterdammerung

Sounds good to me. No technical errors in the viola part as best I can tell. I'm not sure I could tell without seeing a score, but you might want to lighten the the dynamic markings towards the finale if you want the more agile figurations of the viola to pop out: it has a tendency to blend with everything, which is always apparent in recordings of viola concertos.


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## musicrom

Fagotterdammerung said:


> Sounds good to me. No technical errors in the viola part as best I can tell. I'm not sure I could tell without seeing a score, but you might want to lighten the the dynamic markings towards the finale if you want the more agile figurations of the viola to pop out: it has a tendency to blend with everything, which is always apparent in recordings of viola concertos.


Thanks Fagotterdammerung for the advice! I agree that the solo viola part is at times drowned out by the orchestra. That's an important thing for me to think about in writing music - balance between the different instruments - so I'm glad you brought it up.

I was worried that there might be some technical errors in the viola part, especially in the first movement, in that there are parts that are difficult for me to play on the viola, but that I thought would be playable by better violists than myself.

I'll try to download the score, hopefully it will work on my first attempt.


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## Fagotterdammerung

Thanks for the score! Taking a look I can't see any particular errors in the viola part - in fact ( it's totally a personal taste thing ) you may want to be a bit adventuresome and take the viola higher in parts. I remember Primrose writing about how he tended to do that with some solo viola works, with the composer's permission - taking them an octave higher so that they'd project more in parts with heavier orchestration.


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## PetrB

The step by step scale patterns in the subject as well as throughout the accompaniment gets worn out by half-way through if not sooner; once noticed, it begins to predominate what does get heard, and enough that it distracts from the rest. I think that is a pretty large weakness and an undermining factor, especially where it is so prominent through much of a piece of such relatively short duration.

Voicing, too, of the harmonic accompaniment sounds rather fundamental, i.e. vertical, vertical, vertical without much thought as to more interesting horizontal motion, so seemed not nearly as much thought about and more like afterthought -- as if a bit too incidental to the solo instrumental part.

But... lol, "other than that," fairly ambitious and pretty well done. Congratulations!


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## musicrom

Fagotterdammerung said:


> Thanks for the score! Taking a look I can't see any particular errors in the viola part - in fact ( it's totally a personal taste thing ) you may want to be a bit adventuresome and take the viola higher in parts. I remember Primrose writing about how he tended to do that with some solo viola works, with the composer's permission - taking them an octave higher so that they'd project more in parts with heavier orchestration.


Thanks for checking the viola part and the suggestions. I tried to have a combination of low and high parts in the solo viola part to bring out the unique qualities of the instrument, but you're right that I may not have ventured far enough in the higher reaches of the viola. Part of that is my concern that something that I write would be unplayable because as a hobby violist, I'm not very confident with the higher reaches of the instrument. You're right that naturally, the viola doesn't really stand out because of its range being pretty much in the middle of all of the instruments. It's definitely something to look out for when writing for solo viola, and I generally tried to do that, but maybe not enough.



PetrB said:


> The step by step scale patterns in the subject as well as throughout the accompaniment gets worn out by half-way through if not sooner; once noticed, it begins to predominate what does get heard, and enough that it distracts from the rest. I think that is a pretty large weakness and an undermining factor, especially where it is so prominent through much of a piece of such relatively short duration.
> 
> Voicing, too, of the harmonic accompaniment sounds rather fundamental, i.e. vertical, vertical, vertical without much thought as to more interesting horizontal motion, so seemed not nearly as much thought about and more like afterthought -- as if a bit too incidental to the solo instrumental part.
> 
> But... lol, "other than that," fairly ambitious and pretty well done. Congratulations!


Thanks PetrB for the critique. By "step by step scale patterns," do you mean that I used too many whole steps/half steps, or something else? Because that is something that I have difficulty with, but I'm not sure if that's what you were talking about.

Regarding the voicing, that has pretty much been a recurring problem in all of my composition attempts. It's not that the harmony was an "afterthought," but more that I don't have much composition experience, and it's a challenge for me. For one, in a concertante-type work, you want the soloist to be noticed, but at the same time, you have to avoid having a boring or simple accompaniment in the orchestra. Believe it or not, a lot of revising was done in the harmonic parts, and it was a lot worse before, but yeah, it could be better and that's something I need to work on. Any suggestions as to how to do this? Maybe there's a concerto that you can direct me to that does this exceptionally well for me to study?


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## PetrB

musicrom said:


> By "step by step scale patterns," do you mean that I used too many whole steps/half steps, or something else?


Straight-ahead up & down the scale -- do, re, mi, fa, sol, etc. -- in passages, in the bass line, in the piece.


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## SeptimalTritone

Hey musicrom!

I wish PetrB were still here to give the both of us advice... but here's a few thoughts.

Regarding PetrB's comment on "step by scale patterns" in the solo viola, a good idea would be to look at a typical romantic or early 20th century concerto and simply get a feeling for how the solo part is written. Perhaps the Mendelssohn violin concerto or Walton viola concerto? In particular, a greater focus on theme or motif is important, and missing from your present piece. You know how both the Mendelssohn and Walton have clear melodies, and fragments of those melodies are tossed between the solo instrument and the orchestra? Doing so in your music would help both the solo and orchestral parts be more interesting.

I would perhaps focus on writing one movement, and maybe limiting it to just violin and piano, or viola and piano. Focus on a melody and theme, and dialogue between the solo string instrument and the piano.

BTW here is the score https://musescore.com/user/92705/scores/116169 for everyone to look at.


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## musicrom

SeptimalTritone said:


> Hey musicrom!
> 
> I wish PetrB were still here to give the both of us advice... but here's a few thoughts.
> 
> Regarding PetrB's comment on "step by scale patterns" in the solo viola, a good idea would be to look at a typical romantic or early 20th century concerto and simply get a feeling for how the solo part is written. Perhaps the Mendelssohn violin concerto or Walton viola concerto? In particular, a greater focus on theme or motif is important, and missing from your present piece. You know how both the Mendelssohn and Walton have clear melodies, and fragments of those melodies are tossed between the solo instrument and the orchestra? Doing so in your music would help both the solo and orchestral parts be more interesting.
> 
> I would perhaps focus on writing one movement, and maybe limiting it to just violin and piano, or viola and piano. Focus on a melody and theme, and dialogue between the solo string instrument and the piano.
> 
> BTW here is the score https://musescore.com/user/92705/scores/116169 for everyone to look at.


Thanks SeptimalTritone for the comments! You're right of course! I think I was so focused on stuff like phrasing, balance, tone, etc., that I kind of forgot to reinforce much of any motifs or themes. Although I did in fact try to hide some previously-heard motifs throughout the piece in either the harmony or in different forms, it was probably not as effective as I'd have liked it to be. That's really good advice, and I will definitely think more about that in my future compositions.


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