J. Lee Graham

I played Smetana's "The Moldau" (again) last night with the San Fernando Valley Symphony, and I'd forgotten how hard some if that is. The diminished arpeggios in the "Stromschnellen" section are almost silly. It's a very satisfying piece to play, though, even with those two trite chords at the end (what was he thinking?).

Actually, everything we played in last night's concert was tricky. We started with "The Moldau," rounded out the first half with Gershwin's "An American in Paris" - surprisingly tricky here and there, and not especially idiomatic for the viola - and then for the second half finished up with Ravel's brilliant orchestration of Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" - again, rather tricky in spots. Not a terribly long program, but a satisfying one that the audience and players enjoyed alike.