HUMMEL SONATA OP.5 NO.3 FOR PIANO AND VIOLA

This is one of the major Classical sonatas for the viola and I love it. It is demanding, unique and wonderful, filled with imaginative and rich thematic material that is virtuosic for both the piano and for the viola. Of course, E flat major is a difficult key on any stringed instrument.

In this sonata, just as in Mozart’s E flat major Sinfonia concertante and Divertimento for String Trio – which I suggest working on afterwards – we have to question how to tune our instrument. How can we find not just a well-tempered compromise, but good harmonic intonation in a key that does not produce strong harmonics on the viola? Open A is not a note in this key, so if we tune to an A, our G and C strings, as the 3rd and 6th of the scale, will sound too high. Instead, I tune to an E flat major chord to calibrate my strings to the key and bring out more harmonic overtones.

Planning your interpretation

Before you choose any fingerings, bowings or tempos for this first movement, it is important to identify the dramatic high and low points of the movement and the whole sonata. This will help you to plan your interpretation within the context of the entire work. Think about tonality and rhythmic language, and let the music guide you. Ask each phrase, ‘What kind of theme are you? How do you want to sound?’ and adjust your feelings to the music as it goes along. There are many places in any score where you could play with more melancholy or more energy, but there is no one clear rule. The better the music, the more perspectives and hidden elements you should be able to find.

Hummel’s fortissimo opening makes a strong statement before the singing first theme begins. To me this theme is bright, alive and happy, but that is only my view. Everyone should find their own answers. Then in bar 92, early in the development, the semibreves (w) in the piano left hand bring a new kind of spirit and a longer, floating sense of phrase.

THE SOLOIST

NAME TABEA ZIMMERMANN

NATIONALITY GERMAN

STUDIED WITH DIETMAR MANTEL, ULRICH KOCH, SÁNDOR VÉGH

MAIN RECORDING LABELS BIS, CAPRICCIO, HARMONIA MUNDI, MYRIOS

If you look for only one ‘best’ fingering or bowing, you will always play in the same way. With more solutions you will have more possibilities.

MARCO BORGGREVE

Tabea Zimmermann’s recording of this sonata on Beethoven’s viola is available on the Ars Musici CD Beethovens Bratsche

In bars 106–109 we double the piano left hand. This sonata is a brighter sonata than many, mostly on the A and D strings, so this is a rare example of a place where we have to fulfil a bass function.

To reflect that, I play with a more continuous and singing legato, with less attack and expression.

After a written-out fermata in bar 125, the four bars leading to the recapitulation can sound quite free, as long as the tempo picks up again in bar 130. Here Hummel rewrites the first theme with embellished turns in the piano part, so from bar 138 I like to improvise on my own turns a little bit, as if to say, ‘Hey, I can do that too!’

To me the peak of the movement doesn’t come until the coda, in the trill-like sforzando passage reinforced by piano left-hand octaves from bar 194.

Here Hummel makes a small idea look ridiculously important and big, with a real sense of humour. From bar 198, he reminds us of the second theme before finishing with the same happy energy that we had at the start.

Have a flexible approach

As you develop your musical ideas, search for several perspectives that you can use flexibly in response to the piano and how you feel on stage on the day.

Be aware that in concert the reality of your performance might differ from your ideal. You might have to take your pianist’s tempo, for example, even if it is different from what you rehearsed. Most important is to continue the musical story that has been started. It is like planning a walk: you might know where you are going but not exactly where you will put your feet or what you will see. If you look for only one ‘best’ fingering or bowing, you will always play in more or less the same way. With more solutions you will have more possibilities.

How to prepare technically

Now that you have an interpretation in mind, practise E flat major scales and arpeggios in your chosen speed and style, with a one-bow-to-a-bar feel. Tailor your bow speed to shape each part of the bar and remember that in the Classical style shifting should be clean, fast and inaudible. Practise specific elements of the movement using scales too, for example the dotted rhythm of bars 13–17, or the slurred pairs in bars 33 and 159. Here, to play each pair actively but lightly, begin the slur with more bow weight and bow speed. Then practise scales with turns to prepare for bars 35 and 161. Begin each slur with a consonant sound, then lift the bow slightly to finish, to bring out the next pair more clearly. Work slowly. If you practise too quickly or impatiently, it will be more difficult to achieve the best possible result.

Always work with the piano

Next, practise the movement slowly with subtle musical phrasing, very little vibrato and a consistently beautiful tone.

The viola doesn’t just repeat the piano theme. It portrays it in a new light

Explore different characters by varying your dynamic, articulation, bow contact and bow speed. Very often the viola’s voice sits between the two hands of the piano, so find a sound that is flexible in terms of colour but always audible.

Do this in collaboration with a pianist whenever possible to hear each note in its full context, or you risk basing musical decisions on wrong assumptions.

In this movement the piano introduces each theme and the viola responds, and this should also influence your sound.

On the viola the beginning of each note is naturally slow to start, so when the viola takes over the lyrical, rhythmical opening theme from bar 12, I approach each note from above the string to emulate the hammer action of the piano. This produces a clear attack that won’t leave the viola at a disadvantage. I also play with more natural decay to my longer notes. The pianist can respond to the viola too, by aiming for a smoother legato.