Harold en Italie (Viola & Piano)

Berlioz Harold en Italie (Viola & Piano)
Symphony in Four Movements with Viola Solo

Harold en Italie, a “Symphony in Four Movements with Viola Soloist”, has long been recognized as a major work in the repertory of music for viola and orchestra, yet performances have always been rare, and it has not been accessible to players of the viola except in the arrangement made by Liszt, first published in 1879.  Liszt’s arrangement requires a pianist of superhuman technique, and the viola, though amply busy in the first movement, has relatively little part to play in the other three movements.  The soloist’s inactivity, which distances Harold en Italie from the conventional type of concerto, is said to have dissuaded Paganini, who commissioned the work from Berlioz in 1834, from ever playing the solo part.

The present arrangement is intended to make the work readily available to violists by providing a more playable piano reduction of the orchestral part and by giving the viola an element of the orchestral music when the soloist is otherwise silent.  It may thus serve for rehearsals of the orchestral version and as a challenging study for violists.

- Full score & parts (BA5457-72) available for hire, Viola & Piano reduction (BA5457-90) available for sale

- The first modern piano reduction of Berlioz’ central work for orchestra and viola

- Designed with additional music from the orchestral tutti for the solo viola for performances with piano

- Berlioz’ masterpiece based on the scholarly critical New Berlioz Edition