The violists tone is one I envy greatly.

An incredibly fun piece to perform. I’ve performed it hundreds of times, especially in outreach. Students love it.

@djspacewhale

3 жыл бұрын

what was your approach to learning the 4th movement in particular?

@michael_hall_viola

3 жыл бұрын

@@djspacewhale - Very very very slow practice. Also, I spent a lot of time coordinating thee string crossings - feeling the distance traveled between strings, as well as trying to not waste ANY bow on thee string crossings. Both elbows truly need to cooperate and move together on string crossings. Lastly, breathe. It you find yourself holding your breath you must slow down, release your stomach and neck muscles, and breathe more purposefully. Wishing you joy on the journey!

@djspacewhale

3 жыл бұрын

@@michael_hall_viola haha thanks! I've worked on the 1st and 3rd movements with a teacher (just graduated) and breathing was a big thing we focused on, writing in breath marks and all that - I'll give that bit about practicing in string crossings a try too next time I read that movement

@topologyrob

2 жыл бұрын

I'm mightily impressed. It's gotta be one of his best pieces, but I can't see how a human can perform that prestissimo movement

0:06 I - Hora lunga 5:04 II - Loop 7:28 III - Fascar 12:47 IV - Presitissimo con sordino 14:07 V - Lamento 16:52 VI - Chaconne chromatique

Love the microtonal adjustments throughout the piece. Gives it a lot more emotional depth.

@PointofConnection

8 ай бұрын

It is funny that when played with different notes, I cannot really hear the microtones at all. It just sounds as color to me.

I really love this piece!

aw man he loved that motif and so do I (the 2nd mov of the 4 hand piano sonatina, the 7th of musica ricercata)

@portmantonal

4 ай бұрын

2nd movement of the Violin Concerto, too. I'm glad he seemed to like it as much as I do.

very deeply involved emotionally

Did Ligeti make a viola joke?

Is that the licc at the start there but... microtonal??

@eckertdm

4 жыл бұрын

The various arrows and symbols represent specific microtonal pitch adjustments, I think related to the series of natural harmonics on the C string if I recall correctly. It’s nightmarish to work out in the practice room when you first approach it, because a tuner doesn’t help until you figure out how much adjustment each arrow represents for each pitch it its attached to. And the adjustments aren’t in the same measurement as most tuners display.

@user-sd4dd4pn4s

3 жыл бұрын

@@eckertdm It's actually the harmonic series of F. I would put my fingers along the corresponding string of a piano to get the harmonics and adjust my tuning to match - still extremely hard though...

@eckertdm

3 жыл бұрын

Charlie Barker excellent! Thank you for jumping in with the right information. 😁

@robertbradymusic

3 жыл бұрын

Good observation, is it though?

This sonata seems heavily influenced by the violin concerto.

Came here because 39 clues

violists don't get any respect and we certainly wont if we play this, :(

@GNGianopoulos

3 жыл бұрын

... this is probably the most performed and respected masterwork for solo viola in the last century.

@krakenkrispykremelivinthedream

3 жыл бұрын

@@GNGianopoulos really? i mean the beginning just doesn't have the same magic as violin sonatas and concertos. Why is that?

@djspacewhale

3 жыл бұрын

​@@krakenkrispykremelivinthedream i suppose having the "same magic" as other rep is a subjective point, but there's a number of reasons this piece is significant. for one, György Ligeti is one of the most influential and well-known composers of the mid-late 20th century, with his middle-period pieces most famously in Stanley Kubrick's films, and name cred alone (coupled with the general lack of solo viola rep compared to solo violin/solo cello rep) gives it a lot of importance. it's historically significant within his own catalogue, stitching together a lot of notable features of his late period (spectral music, eastern European folk music, Renaissance polyphony, additive polyrhythms à la jazz and sub-Saharan drumming, etc) such that i find this to be, at least as a violist myself, a good introduction to his late style. then, and this gets more subjective and personal, i just find it a wildly engaging and *fun* piece - for the performer, there's a ton of room for personal interpretation and how exactly u want to interpret each movement and solve its technical challenges, and for the listener there's a lot of varied styles and moods and it's one of my favorite solo viola pieces to just listen to

@krakenkrispykremelivinthedream

3 жыл бұрын

@@djspacewhale thats great. I've just been struggling and considering just switching to violin in a few years right after highschool, people are trying to convince me to stay but there isn't much reader.

@Listenerandlearner870

2 жыл бұрын

@@krakenkrispykremelivinthedream the viola has lots of good orchestral parts.