JAVS Fall 2003

ORCHESTRAL PREPARING EXCERPTS FRO THIRD AND FIFTH

HOVEN'S SYMPHONIES

by Michael I. Strauss

written. Let's start with the Andante con moto of the Fifth Symphony. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Movement 2 Andante con moto The most important part of the marking at the beginning of this movement is dolce. Piano is only a relative term thus we should be aware that Beethoven is going to play around with softer dynamics later in the movement. We should be comfortable with the melody we share with the celli to start. I start in the middle of the bow so I don't need to make up too much ground with the separate note on the downbeat. I wouldn't start much lower in the bow than that for fear of getting frozen in the sec ond complete bar. The point of this is to make sure that, like the Americans we are, every note will get equal treatment at the begin ning of this melody. Try this excerpt with a variety of vibratos because you need to be prepared at the audition to play from non-vibrato through a romantic arm vibrato, depending on the conductor's taste and the liveliness of the room you're in. I

Even a seemingly easy lick can get the mind pretty twisted if you don't have a firm grasp on the piece in total. I remember there was a stir at the audition in Indianapolis when I was asked to join the orchestra, because the sight reading was chosen from a tutti section of Strauss' Don Quixote. So, you never know, and it is a good feeling to enter an audition knowing that you have everything ready to go, just in case. There is also great truth to the fact that one can never prepare a small Why is Beethoven so tricky? It's not overly demanding on the tech nique or musically obscure. One could argue that Beethoven is the most popular musician in history for many reasons, not least of which is that his music is so acces sible to so many different cultures. His music is filled with passionate gestures, pedantic rhythms, easily understood harmonic structure (excepting of course the late string quartets), and dynamics to assist anybody's hearing loss. In contrast to what Beethoven is popularly known for, the excerpts that vio lists struggle with in orchestra auditions are some of the most subtle and sophisticated music ever section of a piece unless one understands the entire work

I value Beethoven right up there with Mozart and Strauss as an insight to the candidacy of a musi cian at the audition process. I have had the opportunity to hear audi tions for all string positions, tim pani, harp, clarinet, and most recently conductor at the orches tras that I have served in my brief career. Beethoven always seems to amplify both the good, and not so good, qualities of a candidate, and thus I would like to discuss some of my solutions to problems associ ated with two of the most com mon pieces that violists religiously address at the audition process; the middle movements of the Fifth Symphony, and the Scherzo of the Third Symphony. When approaching any piece for an audition, I strongly recommend learning the entire piece. One never knows what is going to be asked, even if the excerpts alone are clearly stated in the audition list. At the bottom of most lists is a phrase that gives the committee the ability to ask any candidate for sight reading. In Indianapolis and elsewhere, these sight reading excerpts are usually lifted from obscure sections of the pieces that are already on the audition list.

VOLUME 19

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