JAVS Spring 2013

performed quite often: annually in Paris with Chrétien urhan as soloist, and Berlioz included the piece in his tours. Today, the work ranks as a master piece with the Symphonie fantastique ; yet the score’s unique genre as a non -concerto presents performance challenges, usually resulting in an awkward stage position for the soloist. The issue of the soloist’s placement should be straight forward, as is indicated by Berlioz’s instruction in the score at the first entrance of the solo viola: “The play er must stand in the fore-ground, near to the public and isolated from the orchestra.” 4 However, when the soloist has long passages of rest, the very ones that caused Paganini to discount the work, this position becomes awkward. While most contemporary violists sit on a chair or even join the viola section during cer tain long passages, other orchestras and soloists handle the issue more creatively. In 2008, the Minnesota Orchestra’s clever theatrics emphasized the twofold personification of the solo viola as Harold and the orchestra as the site of the scenes of Italy. As reported in the orchestra’s blog, their principal violist, Tom Turner, played the solo part from several different positions throughout the work. 5 He began the first movement as Berlioz instructed, in front of the orchestra in the typical concerto position. However, for his entrance in the second movement, “ Pilgrim’s March,” he appeared in one of the side balconies overlooking the audience. The rest of the performance continued in this way with “Harold” appearing in different locations throughout the concert hall, emphasizing the spatial relationship between Harold and Italy and Berlioz’s idea of Harold as an observer. The reception, at least from the few comments on the blog, was generally good, demonstrating that the audience supported these theatrics in the concert hall. Another example of a distinctive staging of the work occurred at a performance of the Liszt transcription by violist Avishai Chameides and pianist Tomasz Kamieniak. In this “quarter-staged” performance, the soloist “wandered” to the stage just before the first entrance of Harold. 6 The violist remained in the conventional sonata position throughout the remain

der of the piece until the longest passage of rest in the fourth movement, “Orgy of Brigands.” At this normally awkward moment for the violist, who must stand with nothing to do for several minutes, Chameides slowly moved to a new position at the far end of the stage. It is from this position that he played the final statement of Harold and wandered out through an open door behind him while the pianist continued. This quasi-staged performance by Chameides and Kamieniak seems unobtrusive and less distracting than the Minnesota staging described earlier. The vio list assumed the persona of the wandering character Harold, just as Berlioz described in his Memoirs and when writing to Liszt about the piano transcription: The viola should not feature in the piano arrange ment except in the manner in which it appears in the score. The piano represents the orchestra, while the viola should remain apart and confine itself to its sentimental rambling. Everything else is outside its field, it observes the action but does not take part in it. 7 Chameides’s slow, wandering movements and changes in position exemplify Berlioz’s statement about the piece exactly. Berlioz’s statement to Liszt also confirms his idea that the viola is Harold and the orchestra (or piano) is Italy. If Berlioz’s instruc tion in the score was to be ignored, this literary par allel would be missed. Since Berlioz only indicates that the violist should stand in front of and apart from the orchestra at the first entrance of the solo viola, there is some flexibili ty in how this work can be performed. The violist could play from several different positions as a the atrical interpretation of the literary element and the character of Harold, the outsider—in contrast to the most common option today, standing in front of the orchestra for the solo passages and sitting as a vocal soloist would do with a symphony during long orchestral interludes. An interesting compromise between these two interpretations would be to “wan der” on and off stage as the violist did with the Liszt version. All three of these options for the position or

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