Viola Sonata in C (2022)

Greetings All:

Sharing my Viola Sonata on this Thanksgiving-Eve.  The style I was trying to emulate is early Beethoven, in my own inimitable way.  The parts are equal - in fact, as was often the case in Beethoven's sonatas, the Piano takes the upper hand about as often as the Viola does.  Hope you enjoy! 

• Composed: April 19 - July 4, 2022 at Austin.
• Style: Classical, ca. 1790-1800.
• Duration: 18:10.
• Electronic Rendering by Finale 26 music notation software’s "Human Playback" with NotePerformer 3 artificial intelligence assisted interpretation.

Hello  @J. Lee Graham: 

First, let address the technical issues.  In the first movement, you have the viola jump from the jump positions a lot.  This is technically hard for the player.  You have E# in 3rd pos to 1st pos.  It could easier, if this was you kept on the same pos.  On a similar note, you can use the treble cleft when notes go to IV. It is easier to read without the legar lines.

On the overall form, it does fit, with in the era you want to write for. Great job. 

@Kvothe  Greetings!  Thank you so much for reviewing my piece!

I see what you mean about using treble clef more for the higher stuff instead of ledger lines.  i do the same thing with high bassoon parts, and I should probably pay more attention to that.  

As for shifting positions as I've called for, I've written this piece more for a highly proficient player - not a virtuoso necessarily, but the equivalent of someone with a master's degree in performance - and what I've written shouldn't present too much of a problem for a player of that calibre.  I'm a violist myself, and I can play this.  I've also showed it to another violist, and he found nothing prohibitive about it.  

On 12/1/2025 at 9:07 PM, Kvothe said:

On the overall form, it does fit, with in the era you want to write for. Great job. 

Thanks again very much!