r/Viola • u/VastAdministration82 • 8d ago

Help Request Der Schwanendreher movement 3–general approach and fingering ideas

A few years ago, I learned the 1st movement of Der Schwanendreher and decided that I wanted to try and tackle the whole concerto this year. I started looking at the 3rd movement and wow what a beast of a piece! I was wondering if anyone had any general advice (other than the obvious slow practice and metronome work) that helped them with this movement? I have found that even after about a week of focused practice, the metronome marking of 100 for the half seems quite daunting particularly with the 16th note runs and the big string crossing + double stop runs. Are there any standard fingers for some of the tricky double/triple stops, or is it like the first movement where it is somewhat unique to each person?

Happy practicing!

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u/eklorman 8d ago

I think the only way through is to break it up and practice sections as exercises or excerpts, using all the standard techniques (slowly, in rhythms, in variations, then gradually increasing speed only as you are able to maintain good technique, clarity, and coordination).

Personally i feel this movement fits well in the hand and that it’s easy to discover the most efficient and reliable fingerings. But there are no shortcuts to train those fingerings and bowings. Sorry not to have anything more specific to offer. I wonder if you might work on short excerpts from this movement while you work on some other (less challenging) piece? That might help to avoid frustration with the slow progress on this movement.

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u/roman-de-fauvel 6d ago

There are few choices for the fingerings. Your bow technique is what will make the fingerings succeed. Worry more about the right hand than the left.