What I'm Playing...Orchestral Excerpts

Right now, I'm in the daunting situation of having to prepare three quite challenging excerpts for this Tuesday, on violin: Don Juan, the infamous Schumann Scherzo, and Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, beginning of the 1st movement. I definitely did not leave myself enough time to prepare these adequately, and it's a bit frustrating to have to do these on violin knowing I probably won't use them again. Luckily it's only for a university assessment though, not a real audition for a position or scholarship, and the assessment may not even count towards the final grade for the orchestra course. On the plus side, the second opera season I was playing in this year finished last night, so I'll have some more time to practice!

I've encountered many more orchestral excerpts on viola. Here's my viola list:

Beethoven Symphony No. 5, 2nd Movement
Berlioz Carnival Romain Overture
Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Variation 1
Britten Four Sea Changes, 4th Movement
Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo
Mozart Symphony No. 35, Movements 1 and 4
Shostakovich 5, 1st Movement
Strauss Don Juan
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Tchaikovsky Serenade, 1st Movement and Waltz (2nd movement)
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, 3rd Movement

I'd say the most daunting of the above for me to learn was the Strauss Ein Heldenleben, due to high shifting, tone quality, and speed. What a great piece, though!

Also, learning Don Juan on violin has made me realize how much more difficult it is to play the excerpt on viola, in terms of tone quality at that speed. It's a lot more work making something that fast sound as good on viola...so at least that part of it will be easier this Tuesday on violin! (Getting the notes in the chromatic-y section after figure C though, not so much...)

The ones I'm currently preparing are the Berlioz, Brahms, Mozart, Shostakovich, Strauss Don Juan, Tchaikovsky Symphony and Serenade - a total of eight different excerpts to be used for two different auditions - there are a lot of doubles. It's smart for viola players (and violinists too) to have the core standard orchestral excerpts always in rotation in their practice, because you never know when opportunities will come up and chances are, you're always going to have to play Don Juan!

See the hilarious misspelling of "Don Juan"...

Right, practice time!