SITT, Hans

Albumblätter for viola and piano op. 39

I. Moderato
II. Andante sostenuto
III. Allegro

Gérard Caussé, guest professor 

Amalia Bosch Fernández, student

Antonia Valente, accompanying pianist

After the student's performance of the first piece, Caussé comments that she needs to sculpt more with the bow, to communicate the music more clearly and make it engaging—otherwise, it risks becoming dull. He asks her to play it again and then explains the historical context and intention behind the music: it was written to be pleasant and enjoyable, like music for a salon.
At the end of the second piece, the professor corrects her bow contact point as well as the position of her left-hand fingers to achieve better sound and vibrato. As with the first piece, he advises against simply making it "pretty"; it needs to be more emotionally compelling so as not to become tiresome. To that end, Caussé offers guidance on tempo flexibility, phrasing, variations in tone, and so on. For the final note, he suggests alternative fingerings to avoid ending on a harmonic.
In the third piece, they work on the position shifts at the beginning, and once again he asks her not to always end phrases with the same harmonic.

Language: English