Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola

I grew up hearing my father practice the solo viola part of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. Back in the days when he was the principal violist of the Boston Symphony, the programming of viola concertos was extremely rare. Actually concerto performances by any of the principal players besides the concertmaster were few and far between. My father never performed the Bartok, the Walton, or the Hindemith with the Boston Symphony, but he did, as I recall, play the Bartok with a regional orchestra, and he performed the Hindemith at Tanglewood with the Berkshire Music Center orchestra. He also played concertos from time to time with the Boston Pops, and played a couple of concertos using the viola d'amore.

But he did perform the Mozart with the Boston Symphony.

I remember the circumstances of the performance he talks about in this interview, and I remember him talking about the scordatura solo viola part, which involves tuning the instrument up half a step and playing the piece as if it were written in D major. But I believe he was interested in learning it using scordatura around that time, but opted to go with what he had spent decades practicing because of the short notice.

You can hear him play a (very) short bit from the second movement here.

Our local university orchestra is having a performance of the piece in March. The violin professor, who comes from Korea, will be performing it with a violist friend from Korea. The viola part in the orchestra is divided into two parts, and I have been coming to rehearsals to play the (vital and very interesting) second viola part.

The first rehearsal I went to was difficult for me. There were too many (sad and beautiful) memories of my father involved, particularly because of the absence of the solo viola. I thought I could "take it," but I was wrong. The piece haunts my dreams. Literally.

So, to steel myself I have decided to learn the solo viola part. And I have been learning it in what I consider the original (the way I remember him practicing it), not in the scordatura.

Practicing it has been interesting and wonderful. The fingerings seem, somehow, to suggest themselves. And I love the second position options and the way half-step shifts add to the expressive gestures in the music.

I have told the violin professor that if he ever wants to read through the two solo parts together, I would be game. I think it might help "innoculate" me against at least a few bouts of tears. We will see. The important thing is connecting with the music itself, and doing so using the instrument and the bow that my father used when he first learned the piece.