Romantic viola sonatas for amateurs

[Glazier]

Leaving aside the obvious masterpieces - Brahms (cl) and Vieuxtemps- which of the many viola sonatas (many on IMSLP) sound the best?

I'm thinking of Foote, Kreuz, Ratez, Rubinstein, Naumann, Stanford (cl), Kiel, Fuchs,
Brucken-Fock. Preferably playable by amateurs.

[Kriton]

The Rubinstein sonata must be one of my all time favourite viola/piano works, but I generally don't pay attention to what degree a piece would be playable, sorry. In melodic invention it certainly ranks high, but in size as well, so it may not be the first piece you want to play...

In any case, the Franck sonata sounds beautiful on viola - but that can't be preferable to amateurs either, since it was written for Ysaye...

I can recommend the Mendelssohn as well; mustn't be very hard, since it's a very youthful work - for this reason, it's often overlooked, but quite melodious, nonetheless.

By the way, the unfinished sonata by Vieuxtemps is much less played than his first, but contains some of the most melancholic music ever written in the 2nd movement.

[eschiss1]

Not sure about appropriateness to amateurs, but the Draeseke viola alta (playable on viola) sonatas (not available on IMSLP) are wonderful, I think.
(The Fuchs viola sonata should be great too, and is on IMSLP. But I haven't heard it yet...)
If you don't know http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_sonata which unfortunately has no difficulty rating it may be somewhat useful anyway in sparking ideas.
Eric

[Alan Howe]

Draeseke's sonatas are among the most profound of his works, but they take some cracking interpretatively; I've no idea about their level of difficulty. Unfortunately, there is no really good recording of them available. That on AKCoburg has a soloist with a rather nasal tone, and in any case they would really be better played on the viola alta.

[gentile]

A splendid Viola sonata is the one in D major Op.15 by Paul Juon (1872-1940). A fully romantic piece from a composer sometimes referred as "the Russian Brahms" (an title applied also by some critics, with perhaps less foundation, to Taneyev and Medtner). There is another viola sonata by Juon (Op.82a in F minor) but this is in fact a viola version of a clarinet sonata,
Also coming from Russia is the interesting Viola Sonata in C minor Op.10 by Alexander Winkler (1865-1935), a little known Russian romantic composer.
The scores of both sonatas are available on IMSLP and also both have been recorded on CD by the Russian violist Svetlana Stepchenko.

[Glazier]

Any opinons on Philip Scharwenka's sonata Op 106 (IMSLP)?

[Alan Howe]

It's a nice piece - not very individual, but nice.

[Glazier]

Emmanuel Moor's (1863-1931) Romance for va and p (1895)is listed on Klassika as being in ms.  How would I get a copy?

Not for amateurs, but there is a va concerto and a Konzerstuck also in ms.

Anybody heard any of Moor's music?

[eschiss1]

Emmanuel Moor's (1863-1931) Romance for va and p (1895)is listed on Klassika as being in ms.  How would I get a copy?

Not for amateurs, but there is a va concerto and a Konzerstuck also in ms.

Anybody heard any of Moor's music?

Heard of, and there's 26 works from chamber to symphonic so far on IMSLP (see http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Mo%C3%B3r,_Emanuel),  but not, I think, yet heard - sorry!

[minacciosa]

A splendid Viola sonata is the one in D major Op.15 by Paul Juon (1872-1940). A fully romantic piece from a composer sometimes referred as "the Russian Brahms" (an title applied also by some critics, with perhaps less foundation, to Taneyev and Medtner). There is another viola sonata by Juon (Op.82a in F minor) but this is in fact a viola version of a clarinet sonata,
Also coming from Russia is the interesting Viola Sonata in C minor Op.10 by Alexander Winkler (1865-1935), a little known Russian romantic composer.
The scores of both sonatas are available on IMSLP and also both have been recorded on CD by the Russian violist Svetlana Stepchenko.

There is now a recording of the Juon and Winkler works on a Sono Luminus cd, superbly played by Eliesha Nelson. I think the performance of the Juon is the best one to date.

[Mark Thomas]

Try the five Raff Violin Sonatas, all of which are available as downloadable free PDFs at IMSLP.

For ideas about other romantic works, it's worthwhile seeing if you can get hold of, or borrow from a library, a copy of the two volumes of W.W. Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. Published at the end of the 1920s I think, it is a fascinating mine of information about now forgotten chamber music works, reviewing them specifically from the viewpoint of an amateur player.

[Martin Eastick]

The Viola (alta) Sonata Op14 by Max Meyer-Olbersleben (b.1850) seems to be quite an attractive work without being too technically demanding (speaking for the piano part that is!). So much so that I have just re-acquanted myself with it and my recollection was not at fault. My first thoughts were some similarity with later Reinecke - well written and abundance of melodic content without overstaying its welcome!

I am sure I recall that Ebenezer Prout has received some criticism elsewhere on this forum for being dull and ultra-conservative, but his Sonata for (A) Clarinet & Piano Op28 without doubt is amongst his best efforts and he did subsequently arrange it for viola (although I have yet to hear this version)

Also, how about Wojciech Gawronski (1868-1911) - I have a copy of this but have never tried it though - with or without a violist! From the score it seems to have a little in common with Noskowski's Violin Sonata, with a slight early 20th century influence!

[eschiss1]

Well, there is a recording (made for KUHF-FM) of the entire 2nd viola alta sonata of Draeseke played on the original instrument linked to here (I like the performance anyway, opinions will of course differ.)

[JimL]

Try the five Raff Violin Sonatas, all of which are available as downloadable free PDFs at IMSLP.

For ideas about other romantic works, it's worthwhile seeing if you can get hold of, or borrow from a library, a copy of the two volumes of W.W. Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. Published at the end of the 1920s I think, it is a fascinating mine of information about now forgotten chamber music works, reviewing them specifically from the viewpoint of an amateur player.

Were they arranged for viola?

[Mark Thomas]

No, they weren't . Apologies, I misread the topic heading. Oh, calamity!