Concerto for Viola

Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702/3-1771)Concerto in C major for viola da gamba, two violins, viola, and basso continuoGraunWV A:XIII:2While this concerto contains the excitement and virtuosity which is the soul of the concerto, it is perhaps less demanding than some of Graun?s other gamba concertos. We are indeed fortunate that it has recently come to light again after the chaos of the war years and the darkness of the following Cold War. At the time of its disappearance in the 1940s it would have been dismissed as an unplayable curiosity, but now there are surely many who can bring it to life, as Ludwig Christian Hesse did in the eighteenth century. We are grateful to the Berlin Sing-Akademie for permission to produce this first edition. / Viole de gambe / Guntersberg

Reduction for viola and piano-William Walton composed his Viola Concerto in 1928-9 and it was given its premiere at a Promenade Concert at Queen's Hall London on 3rd October 1929. In the beginning Viola players adjusted the solo line to fit their own ideas of the work's character and Walton was generally happy to accomodate this. However he came to regard one player's version above all the others for its discipline and balance - that of Frederick Riddle. Riddle's edition was originally published with a Piano reduction of the first Orchestration in 1938 and it is this that forms that basis for the solo line in this edition. This present Piano reduction was made by Geoffrey Pratleyand published in 1993.

Nico Muhly’s Viola Concerto is a work for Solo Viola and Orchestra co-commissioned by Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España Detroit Symphony Orchestra Festival de Saint Denis & the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Alexander Shelley. It was first performed on 6th February 2015 and lasts around 24 minutes. This is the Full Score.

POD-Charybdis - 'Wirbelrausch für Bratsche und Orchester' by Søren Nils Eichberg (2016)Concerto for Viola and Orchestra dedicated to Rafael AltinoPremiere by Rafael Altino and Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Schønwandt on October 27 2016

Anders Koppel's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. Commissioned by South Jutland Symphony Orchestra. First performed February 10th 2011.  

Born in Nottingham England in 1862 Edmund Severn moved to the United States at the age of four along with his family who settled in Hartford Connecticut. Severn began to study the Violin with guidance from his father who taught the instrument professionally. He later studied with Franz Milcke and Bernard Listemann concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra before moving to Berlin to study bowing technique under Emanuel Wirth the first assistant of Joseph Joachim at the Berlin Hochschule. As a composer Edmund Severn wrote mainly orchestral music as well as many pieces for the Violin including a concerto; he also wrote three stringquartets.To this day the Polish Dance for Violin and Piano has remained Severnâ??s most famous work. The piece is arranged here by Alan Arnold for Viola and Piano.

Edition for piano two violins viola and violoncello-Edition for piano two violins viola and violoncello (2-piano reduction with 1 each of the string parts) 'Mr. Mozart Kapellmeister wishes to announce to the most worthy public the appearance in print of three of his recently contrived piano concertos. These three concertos may be performed not only with a large orchestra including wind instruments but also a quattro that is with two violins one viola and violoncello. They will be issued early in April of this year (1783).' As this advertisement shows it was Mozart's intention to keep the accompaniment part flexible in his piano concertos K.413-5 and as we know from a letter Mozart wrote to his father inK.449 as well. In addition to orchestral forces it is also possible to use a chamber setting with string instruments one to a part. This chamber music edition accommodates this option thereby enriching Mozart's charming chamber music with piano. These editions of Mozart's Piano Concertos are based on the Urtext editions published in the New Mozart Edition. In the present arrangement for two pianos the solo Part - as well as the strings - are unchanged and thus identical with the version in the NMA. The piano arrangement adheres to the original orchestral score. Chamber music editions available for: Piano Concerto No.11 in F major K.413 BA4875Piano Concerto No.12 in A major K.414 BA4877Piano Concerto No.13 in C major K.415 BA4879Piano Concerto No.14 in E-flat major K.449 BA4871