The Hardest Piece Ever Written For Viola Is Horrifying

Viola players will meet their worst fears in this video of the top 10 (11?) hardest pieces ever written for viola. My rankings are mostly based on technical difficulty, but musical difficulty is also a factor. I only used transcriptions and pieces that are well-established in the viola repertoire. There are certainly many modern pieces that did not fit this category but pose similar levels of difficulty, such as the concerti by Peteris Vasks, James Dean, Peng-Peng Gong, or Mikhail Pletnev.

Btw congrats everyone on Viola Kingdom being 15k strong! You are all valuable members of an amazing and talented community!

Background music for beginning and end of video: Weinberg Sonata no. 3 for Solo Viola, performed by me in my most recent livestream.

I do not own any of the recordings I used in this video and all credit goes to the performers and original uploaders.

Links to full performances:

Walton Viola Concerto, Marc Sabbah
   • Walton Viola Concerto 1st mvt | Marc ...  

Clarke Sonata for Viola and Piano, Richard O’Neill
   • Видео  

Stravinsky Elegie for Solo Viola, Eric Nowlin
   • Stravinsky Elegy for solo viola perfo...  

Hindemith “Der Schwanendreher” Viola Concerto, Antoine Tamestit
   • Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher ∙ hr-Si...  

Paganini Sonata per la Grand Viola, Nils Monkemeyer
   • Carl Maria von Weber/Niccolò Paganini...  

Ligeti Sonata for Solo Viola, Brian Isaacs
   • Ligeti Viola Sonata Excerpts  

Schnittke Viola Concerto, Hsin-Yun Huang
   • Schnittke Viola Concerto/Hsin-Yun Hua...  

Bartok Viola Concerto, Yuri Bashmet
   • Yuri Bashmet plays Bartok Viola Conce...  

Rosza Viola Concerto, Gilad Karni
   • Miklós RÓZSA (1907-1995) Concerto for...  

Penderecki Viola Concerto, Tabea Zimmerman
   • Krzysztof Penderecki - Viola Concerto...  

Beriot Sequenza VI for Solo Viola, Dejan Mladjenovic
   • Luciano Berio - Sequenza No. 6 - Viol...