The Bartok Viola Concerto is one of the most iconic pieces in the viola repertoire, joining the Walton and Hindemith concerti as one of the “big three” viola concerti in the repertoire. It's on every U.S. orchestra audition list and is one of the most common choices for violists on the audition circuit. Despite all this, when I was in school I missed the train on the Bartok Concerto and never got around to learning it.
I spent undergrad focusing on building up my repertoire, which included Bach Suites, a variety of viola sonatas, the Walton Viola Concerto, and the Hindemith Viola Concerto. By the time I started my post graduate degrees I was already heavy on the orchestra audition circuit, so I focused on polishing the repertoire needed for my audition goals. I never found the time to study the Bartok Viola Concerto while I was in school, so here I am learning it for the very first time. Since I graduated from school, I’ve been so immersed in orchestra life that I can’t say I’ve taken the time to learn any new substantial pieces of viola repertoire. However, I have been grinding through the orchestral repertoire, learning and polishing a new set of music every week-so I’m sure this practice helps to make the learning process easier.
What I did
In order to optimize my time I decided to set a realistic goal for my first week of practice and record my process in a diary. My primary goal was to establish effective fingerings for the entire piece and become familiar enough with the first movement to play through sections. I recorded details like how much time I spent working on it that day, what sections I practiced, and what sections would require more time.
What I learned, in a nutshell, is that the Bartok Viola Concerto is an extremely challenging piece of music, but it is written incredibly well and is a lot of fun to work through. At the end of the week I brought my husband in the room and attempted to hack through the first movement, knowing that I would probably need to stop around page 5 because it just gets so gnarly, and indeed did I need to stop! The experience was super eye opening because as soon as I was playing for someone else (even just my husband), a lot of the weakness in my learning of the music was revealed. In one week of practicing the Bartok between 1-3 hours per day, I did not have time to settle in my shifts & string crossings, never mind truly polish the piece. Some of the harmonic motion and intervallic movement is so unusual that after a week I still have to think about what the intervals should sound like, and in my playthrough I noticed some places where I need to write in a lot more fingerings because the patterns are not at all intuitive. So let’s dive in to what the week looked like and what I was actually able to accomplish in 7 days of practice.
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Day 1 & 2: Exploration
The first couple of days were spent in pure exploratory mode. I approached the piece with a blank slate, playing through each section, identifying fingering challenges, and discovering the difficult passages—and there are certainly a lot of those! Let’s walk through what these challenges are and some ideas are and some ideas on how to tackle them. It is important to note here that I am using the Tibor Serly edition, which is the most standard version of the piece. If you are looking to purchase this music make sure you have this edition and not one of the other editions which are markedly different from the Serly.
The first page- The opening is lyrical, yet meandering through huge interval leaps pretty high up on the viola. The first four bars are a test of legato and beautiful tone, quickly followed by an introduction of a harmonically complex, yet repetitive figure.
My first thought going through this section is that it would be a project just to get all of the F’s & Eb’s on the A string and the C’s & Bb’s on the D string to match perfectly with each other. One could also choose to stay on the A string, but the shifting problem to me is far more of a challenge to solve, so I am crossing strings until we hit the 16th notes. After the “precipitato” rush at the end of this segment, we return to the lovely yet mysterious melody in measure 14. Creative and thoughtful fingerings are needed to get around this melody that has unusual interval changes. The last line of this page is a complete finger twister up in fourth position across all strings. Passages like this are really good to practice simplified first – practice what you can in 1st position until you are familiar with what it sounds like before attempting all of the string crossings. It took me about 20 minutes to noodle through the first time before I felt like I could play it in a (very slow!) tempo, so take your time to figure out what it sounds like and let that information process - no rushing through these two measures!
Pages 2 & 3- Another lyrical start lasting three lines before devolving into an extremely jumpy set of patterns. Nailing the intonation will be a challenge for this entire section, lots of shift isolating, simplified practicing (practicing an octave down, practicing in first position, etc.), and string crossing practice will be required here.
Measure 36, with its dense harmonic structure, became a personal puzzle. I broke it down one note at a time, painstakingly ensuring each pitch was correct before even thinking about connecting them. When I reached measures 37 and 38, the abrupt shift from 1st to 9th position was a wake-up call. Another fingering option might be to stay up in the stratosphere from the beginning of measure 37, crossing onto the D string in 5th position, but the sound that high on the D string is so weak that I would hesitate to do that. It might work for some people, but it most definitely depends on the instrument and the musician – I just don’t like the sound up there at all and it’s extremely tight on the fingers.
Measure 41 introduces a rolling pattern that requires precision in shifting. I opted for a stepwise approach, shifting up with my first finger on the big beats and my 3rd finger on the second slur of each pattern. This felt more natural and consistent to me compared to the printed fingerings, which seemed more jumpy. But, as the music ascends and descends in wide leaps, the intonation becomes trickier, requiring slow and deliberate practice to lock in each interval. Once we hit measure 48 the intonation gets really sticky in both the high and the low registers, with a lot of required tight noodling fingers.
Pages 4 & 5- This middle section of the concerto really starts to test the limits of both technique and musicality. The haunting melody in measure 60, which should be played on the D string, demands a secure 5th position. To ensure accuracy, I used the shifting ladder method. First, I found 3rd position on the G string, then played C, D, and E. By replacing the 3rd finger with my 1st finger, I secured 5th position, which set me up perfectly for the grace note that follows. This passage is marked piu dolce, so I focused on achieving a sweet, singing tone, which creates the haunting affect when playing high up on the D string.
Measure 67 presents a harmonic challenge that took some extra thought. I found it helpful to practice the passage in a simplified version at first, particularly the 5th beat, where I played the notes as written, and then dropped an octave for the 6th beat. Thinking enharmonically—recognizing that E# is F-natural, Fx is G-natural, and A# is Bb—helped me internalize the pitch relationships. Even with careful practice, the harmonic twists in this measure often caught me off guard, sometimes landing me a half-step off. This is a passage where patience is crucial; the harmonies don’t always lead where you expect them to. By measure 70, the music ramps up again with more leaps and jumps, leading to the highest G# I’ve ever played. Here, it’s essential to stay grounded, both physically and mentally, to navigate the register shifts smoothly. This section is as much about mental preparation as it is about technical execution—anticipating the jumps and staying relaxed through them is key to making the music sound effortless.
More meandering lyricism leads to page 5 which is where stuff really hits the fan difficulty wise. A bariolage across all strings in 5th/6th position leads into runs of broken 6ths that I had to sit down for. Figuring out the fingerings was quite the puzzle – there are fingering suggestions in this edition, but they mostly didn’t work so well for me. For measure 112, I realized that I can at least stay in position for the first 2 doublestops. The Db lingers across the first two beats, so I stay in 6th position, and then shift up for the 3rd double stop. The broken 6ths took a lot of trials and brain cells to figure out what would be easiest for me. There is no consistent fingering option, so it is up to the performer whether they would rather have a lot of jumpy shifts or a lot of jumpy string crossings. I chose more string crossings than the suggestions in this edition – it works well for me, but it may not work so great for everyone. The most important thing is that it is playable in tempo and the performer is able to make the music sound easy, which is to say that it doesn’t have too much extra noise between the notes (shifting/string crossing sound), and that it sounds calm and even. Once you get to measure 120, breathe a sigh of relief because we get to finish the page with a nice lyrical melody.
Pages 6 & 7- That’s right, we’re not done yet! At this point we are just starting to ramp up the energy. We have a series of arpeggiated jumps and chord patterns.
Measure 135 is extra special because the performer needs to hold the tritone on the G & D strings while changing the note on the C string, which is quite the finger twister! I would definitely need to check the tritone at all the bottom note changes because it will absolutely slip if left to its’ own devices. The D# at the end of that particular pattern definitely doesn’t help, either! The F#/C tritone must stay the same throughout that entire measure. Compared to everything that happened up to the point of the cadenza, I personally find the cadenza more of breeze to get through. The harmonies move in a way that is more expected even if the register jumping double stops test your knowledge of the fingerboard. The shift in measure 140 is a great example of that shiftiness, can you find an octave in 6th position when you started the measure way back in first position?
It’s measure 160 that gets really hairy for me though. A run up of perfect 5ths over almost 3 octaves! Perfect 5ths on the C string all the way to perfect 5ths in 5th/6th position on the A string! I was able to get that in my fingers, but I cannot say that I was ever able to get it in tune within my one week of practice. Once those are out of the way we can move back to a return of the idea from measure 40. I use the same fingering pattern here that I did the first time we had this music in measure 40. We then wrap up this section with a more declarative lyrical melody.
Page 8 & 9- We are almost through the first movement! Page 8 introduces a snappier double dotted theme that we haven’t seen yet in the piece. Of course, the quick double dotted notes have to be 9th’s and 10th’s away from the base note, making it sound kind of like a yodel – which is ok because it’s supposed to! The meandering melodies after this happens are quite harmonically unexpected and jumpy (like we’ve seen before), so I would spend a lot of time in first position to figure out how the intervals fit together before making those jumps into the stratosphere, hunting for the unknown. The Tempo 1 at measure 208 begins with a confident melody, going so far as to repeat half of it way up in the stratosphere, but it doesn’t last long before devolving into fragments of jumpiness between octaves.
The scales at the end of the movement are a positively gnarly way to finish this movement off. They are not straightforward scales in any way whatsoever. To the point that I made sure every single half step clearly marked so that I can tell what all is even happening from one note to the next. There is a note at the bottom that claims “the open harmonic “A” will sound without any finger actually being placed on the string at the moment”. I can’t say if this is true or not, because with one week of practice I could not play these scales fast enough to be able to even tell if that is true. I am skeptical, but please let me know if you know it can be done! In my attempt of getting this passage in any tempo, I stayed in 8th position for the first downward scale pattern, playing the harmonic “A” on the D string. For the 2nd scale in measure 240 I would slip my first finger back to hit the harmonic between shifting. I have the thought that possibly might be what hits that harmonic ring, although I vaguely remember hearing from past teachers that it will sound…if you go fast enough and believe hard enough.
Days 3, 4, 5: Tackle the challenges
It took the whole first two days to get through all 9 pages of music and come up with some fingerings, so for the next couple of days I decided to focus on some of the harder challenges in the hopes of being able to play through the piece at the end of the week. I spent a lot of time practicing very slowly to learn the unusual interval patterns. I practiced high parts octaves down in first position, I practiced with the drone to make sure I was landing on the notes I was supposed to. After these few days, it did become easier to pick up my viola and play through some of these passages with confidence about the intervals without the slightest hint of a headache. There aren’t a lot of pieces of music where it takes me so long to play passages without having to think them through – this is one of those pieces!
Day 6: The Gym Snag- So this story is not quite related to the Bartok Concerto... but what happened was...The night before, I tried my first gym class since college. I knew there would be some “light” weight work in the class, but I didn’t know the extent of it. Everyone was grabbing 2.5 pound weights and 5 pounds weights and I figured 2.5 is really light, so let me go for the 5 pounders….this was a huge mistake! For the entire hour, the weights were never put down, and I powered through on the five pounders until I literally couldn’t move my arms anymore before I put the weights down and grabbed the 2.5 pounders. Long story short, I was really sore on what was supposed to be day 6 of practicing the Bartok Concerto, so I didn’t practice at all. Using the heavier weights was a huge mistake, but what I learned was very valuable, and it sent me in a direction that is leading me to make better decisions now. Movement is extremely important for musicians, and a musician’s mobility can make or break their career. After this experience I decided that I needed to work more on stretching and mobility as well as core and upper body strength. I have been way more consistent on stretching, and I haven’t returned to the class again yet, but I am planning on giving it another try with the lighter weights and seeing how it goes.
This experience was a stark reminder of how important it is for us musicians to be intentional regarding our physical health. The strain from that workout affected my ability to practice the Bartok Concerto, highlighting the delicate balance between physical fitness and musical performance. When it comes to arm workouts especially, we need to focus more on mobility and flexibility and try to avoid overstressing those muscles.
Day 7 & 8: The Final Test
Since I took day 6 off of practice, I needed to add in another day so I could get my full seven days of practice. The goal was to try to get a run through on the final day of this adventure, so I distributed my time more evenly throughout the movement on these days. I spent time working on giving the opening a truly legato, flowing line through the string crossings and shifts. Phrasing through leaps could be very challenging – without thinking about it, a lot of musicians naturally have a bit of portato between the notes of lyrical lines. We want to emphasize notes, hide shifts, and get the string ringing fully from the beginning of the note, so instead of weaving a perfectly smooth line, we sometimes have dips in and out of sound between notes. I spent time recording myself so I would know if this was happening and to make the proper adjustments. The legato issue is one where it is a lot harder to tell while you are doing it, so recording and listening back is my favorite way to work on music like this. Listening back is also a great way to figure out if you like how something is phrased. Are we phrasing through two bars, or are we leading through four bars? Where should the line peak or subside? You might think you have an idea of what you want this music to sound like, but maybe you’ll listen back and realize your idea isn’t quite coming through, or there’s something you’d like to do differently instead.
The final day of practice is when I grabbed my husband for an attempt at a full run through of the piece. By the time I grabbed him I believe I had already thrown in a couple hours of practice, so I was tired, but determined. The attempt was a valiant one, but I really did peter out after the fifth page of music. It was an enlightening experience – some fingerings were forgotten that I thought were self-explanatory, some shifts were missed when I thought I knew where they were… It was just like when my students come into a lesson and fumble through music they swear they actually did practice! So now I know, in those early stages of learning a complex piece, the brain lets go of a lot of practice when you get in front of someone. What was once “alright”, or “passable”, is now out the window. It was a very interesting realization that will probably help me have a little more grace towards my students when they are learning new music.
Reflections: So how long will this last? Unfortunately, I don’t have room in my schedule to continue learning the Bartok Concerto anymore at this point. I don’t have to teach it yet so it is not something that needs to be complete, but when I do have to teach it, the hope is that it will at least be easier for me to pick up and learn it fully than it would have been. This has definitely been an interesting and eye opening project so I am glad that I did it.
Learning a concerto like this is vastly different from learning orchestral repertoire. This experience reminded me of how much effort it takes to bring a complex solo work to a high level. Orchestral repertoire can be quite difficult, but the passages only last for so long-a few lines here and there, maybe a whole page of difficult music versus some rest time/orchestral support time. When my students do start learning the Bartok Viola Concerto, I will be more fully equipped not only with the music, but also with more understanding and compassion for my students puzzling their way through the music. I also was reminded of the importance of stretching and of not pushing my body too hard while working on intense music. It is important to practice mobility and strength, but musicians must be super cautious about how we push through strength training - especially when it involves the hands/wrists. Since that wild workout, I've been much more intentional with daily stretching, and not overdoing any weight exercises.
Well thank you for following along on this journey – hopefully you got an idea of what it takes to perform this piece and some tips on how to practice some of this music. See you in the next one!
Have you tackled the Bartok Concerto or any other challenging pieces recently? Share your experiences in the comments below—I'd love to hear how you've navigated your own musical journeys!
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