You put them back together in a miniature cadenza that takes you to the noble first-movement theme.Ĭommentary: If Mozart 3 is the first “grown-up” concerto you learn, Tchaikovsky is likely (in the words of my teacher Dan Mason) “your first R-rated concerto”! Quick summary: First there’s a full-scale tutti that builds to a climax before falling away into fragments. Remember, you need to pace the buildup all the way through the first cadenza. Then there’s the left hand: again, not a lot of gymnastics to start, but it can be hard to nail the right combination of intensity and temperature in the vibrato. And they don’t adjust for whatever right-hand issues you may be facing either. Everyone thinks they practiced rhythmically, but the eighth notes don’t lie. The notes aren’t the most difficult, but everyone is surprised the first time they play Sibelius with accompaniment. It’s tough to keep the pulse even in the opening of Sibelius. I am, however, taking into account the fact that the down-bow-staccato thirds in the last movement should be weighing on your mind from the opening. But we’re talking openings only, so we’ll shelve the fingered octave nightmare page for now and give Sibelius a 5.7. Quick summary: A ghostly few bars of hushed eighth-notes, then you’re off on a typical Sibelius melody: fire without warmth (I think you’re required to use those words when discussing Sibelius), unequal phrase lengths, and no clear destination.Ĭommentary: Like Glazunov, Sibelius would rank higher if this were an overall difficulty scale. But come on! If you can tune your strings, you can play the opening of Berg.
And I’ve heard (from those who have had the pleasure of performing it with orchestra) that those open strings are no joke, considering how much musical weight they have to carry. The Berg is a wonderful, cosmic piece of great difficulty. Quick summary: You slur the four open strings without the orchestra, from lowest to highest, then you slur them back the other way.Ĭommentary: OK, just kidding around a bit. A 10.0? Just wait and see what Heifetz himself put at the top of the scale! Berg Degree of difficulty: 1.1
I’ve assigned each concerto a degree of difficulty for the opening. A 1.0 would be the equivalent of walking out and playing Twinkle Twinkle after a cozy 2-bar introduction. In other words, starting Paganini 1 fresh from your dressing room is a different animal from starting it after a 4-minute orchestral freeze-out.
#Sibelius 5 intro full#
Keep in mind that these rankings are based on the orchestral versions with their full tuttis. We ran through all the major violin concerto openings, figuring out where they would rank on the scale from “cruise control” to “Mayday!” I think we burned through the rest of that afternoon, in fact. A few give you some margin for error in the opening, while others show you no mercy!ĭuring a practice break back in school at Curtis, I was musing on this with my friend Pavel Ilyashov. Some let you dig in right away and work your nerves out. How do you feel? That depends on the concerto, doesn’t it? Now the opening tutti is drawing to a close, and it’s your time to shine. You’re inches away from getting smacked by the conductor’s left hand. The hall is dark, but the spotlights make your eyes water. Imagine yourself on stage in front of an orchestra. I have now added the most requested, including one that was frequently touted as “the hardest ever”! Just know that I read all of your comments, so I hope that this expanded version of the list will delight violinists the world over. Editor’s note: The original version of this post was missing several concertos, each of which was pointed out by my faithful readers.
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