I’ve decided to keep track of pieces that are excruciating for violists to play. There seems to be an evolving canon (a pantheon, if you will) of works which violists seem to universally dislike playing. Usually this is due to the physical demands of the piece. The viola needs a bit more effort to get the strings to speak, and combined with more weight and a longer reach than the violin, and the lack of a way to play it while set on the floor like the cello, makes for some pieces which are literally the musical equivalent of waterboarding. Feel free, fellow violists, to add your nominees to the Hurt Locker via the comments section below, and I’ll update the list as needed.
Tchaikovsky – Fifth Symphony
Bruckner – Fourth and Seventh Symphonies (though all could be enshrined)
Gorecki – Third Symphony
Chopin – First and Second Piano Concertos
Beethoven – Sixth and Seventh Symphonies
Schumann – Third Symphony
Rossini – Stabat Mater
Mendelssohn – Elijah
Dvorak – Cello Concerto, Eighth and Ninth Symphonies
Schubert – Incidental Music to Rosemunde, Unfinished Symphony, Symphony No. 9 “Great”
Nielsen – Second Symphony, Fifth Symphony
Brahms – First and Second Symphonies
Respighi – Pines of Rome
Smetana – Ma Vlast (or just Moldau)
Wagner – Ring Cycle (esp. on “wagner” viola!)
Sibelius – Second Symphony