Valse Brillante for violin and piano

I recently completed this short showpiece I mostly wrote for myself. I'm going to be trying to arrange a live performance very soon, after I learn the part of course.

For now all you have is Finale's rendering, but it should give you the idea.

I'm not going after any particular composer's style, I'm just trying to write something that is simultaneously accessible, flashy and difficult, but also musically sophisticated.

valse brilliante.pdf

Hey Sean,

Nice piece! I would be astonished if I heard this live and at this tempo! Very virtuosic - You nailed it there. I've been playing piano for 12 years and consider myself almost expert, so I'll give you my critique on the piano part as I have zero idea how violin technique works.

Measure 53 - The trill in the right hand isn't possible if you want the right hand to also play the chords. I would play the chords with my left hand. A simple fix would be to put the chords in the left hand, so there is no confusion. Experienced piano players can read ledger lines very high in the bass clef - It only gets hard to read after reading the G above the bass clef staff (3 ledger lines).

Measures 62 & 66 - The cross-beaming is confusing and hard to read. Just put it in the bass clef, trust me.

Measure 77 - I personally despise pinky trills and will do everything in my power to not play them with pinky, so I'd play the bottom notes in the treble clef with my left hand. Again, maybe this is implied. Don't be afraid to put these in bass clef. However, you could put in a "l.h." next to those notes and that would imply to play them with the left hand. 

Measure 132 - That's a lot of notes in the right hand! Playable, yes. Consider letting us roll it. Most piano players do not have large hands. The average length is around a 10th.

Measure 138 - Same thing as earlier about the "l.h." marking. I imagine it's implied and that's how I would play it.

Measures 157 to 163 - There isn't a real pattern here and would be difficult to perfect. The pinky jump from the low G to the F sharp is difficult in measure 161 to 162.

Measure 193 - Yes! This is what I was talking about earlier. I have no problem reading this.

Measure 223 - Consider putting those low notes in the treble clef in the bass clef.

Measure 236 - The third beat of the measure has a B and D that could be played by the left hand. The jumping in the right hand would be very hard when playing fast. 

Measure 275 - The quadruplet scares me. Playable, but confusing.

Measure 278 and 283 - An uncomfortable stretch for many. Not me, but consider adding a roll.

Measure 279 - Sostenuto pedal would be my friend here since you want the chord held over the measure with staccato in between. Consider marking "Sostenuto" .

Overall, great work. You obviously know something about playing piano. The piece would be difficult, but playable.

Cheers!

Very nice, though there are 10th double stops in the violin part which I don't think are playable... unless you have gigantic hands.

On 2/17/2022 at 9:51 PM, SuperSaiyanScriabin said:

Hey Sean,

Nice piece! I would be astonished if I heard this live and at this tempo! Very virtuosic - You nailed it there. I've been playing piano for 12 years and consider myself almost expert, so I'll give you my critique on the piano part as I have zero idea how violin technique works.

Measure 53 - The trill in the right hand isn't possible if you want the right hand to also play the chords. I would play the chords with my left hand. A simple fix would be to put the chords in the left hand, so there is no confusion. Experienced piano players can read ledger lines very high in the bass clef - It only gets hard to read after reading the G above the bass clef staff (3 ledger lines).

 

Measures 62 & 66 - The cross-beaming is confusing and hard to read. Just put it in the bass clef, trust me.

Measure 77 - I personally despise pinky trills and will do everything in my power to not play them with pinky, so I'd play the bottom notes in the treble clef with my left hand. Again, maybe this is implied. Don't be afraid to put these in bass clef. However, you could put in a "l.h." next to those notes and that would imply to play them with the left hand. 

Measure 132 - That's a lot of notes in the right hand! Playable, yes. Consider letting us roll it. Most piano players do not have large hands. The average length is around a 10th.

Measure 138 - Same thing as earlier about the "l.h." marking. I imagine it's implied and that's how I would play it.

Measures 157 to 163 - There isn't a real pattern here and would be difficult to perfect. The pinky jump from the low G to the F sharp is difficult in measure 161 to 162.

Measure 193 - Yes! This is what I was talking about earlier. I have no problem reading this.

Measure 223 - Consider putting those low notes in the treble clef in the bass clef.

Measure 236 - The third beat of the measure has a B and D that could be played by the left hand. The jumping in the right hand would be very hard when playing fast. 

Measure 275 - The quadruplet scares me. Playable, but confusing.

Measure 278 and 283 - An uncomfortable stretch for many. Not me, but consider adding a roll.

Measure 279 - Sostenuto pedal would be my friend here since you want the chord held over the measure with staccato in between. Consider marking "Sostenuto" .

 

Overall, great work. You obviously know something about playing piano. The piece would be difficult, but playable.

Cheers!

 

Thank you for your careful review of the piano part! I am not a (competent) pianist myself, so I was relying on my intuition of what "should probably work" when arranging the part. Yes, many of the times when you suggest a "l.h." marking would be useful, I do mean to imply it.

Specifically with regards to your suggestion at m. 62, the addition of cross-beaming was deliberate after consulting with my composition instructor, who will also likely be my accompanist on this at some point as well, to check the part for playability. I didn't originally have cross-beaming there. At m. 66 I did originally have it. My intention was from time to time make it clear with notation that I had, in fact, given some thought to the playability of the part. Many times from a logical voice-leading point of view it would certainly be better to organize the notes on the staff differently, and perhaps then just let the pianist sort out how to handle it, and I think that certainly can be a perfectly valid approach as well. Sometimes I guess I sort of mix-and-match the two approaches myself anyway.

The quadruplet at m. 275 does look scary, I agree! I made sure my instructor triple-checked those bars because I was really worried they would be unplayable. I just really want that cross-rhythmic texture.

Cross-beaming m. 62 was the only recommendation he ended up making, so I simply left the rest of the score alone.

On 2/19/2022 at 7:03 PM, bkho said:

Very nice, though there are 10th double stops in the violin part which I don't think are playable... unless you have gigantic hands.

 

I wrote this for myself to perform; nothing in here is impossible, I guarantee it. Not even the sixteenth-note runs in harmonics... 😉 I submit those as a challenge to other violinists to figure out how one would execute the required technique, in particular mm.191-192.