Max Bruch
Romanze
Short instrumentation: 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0, str
Duration: 9'
Bearbeitet von: Luukas Hiltunen
Instrumentation details:
violin I (12 players)
violin II (10 players)
viola (8 players)
violoncello (6 players)
double bass (3 players)
Romanze
Sample pages
Work introduction
In Spring 2019 when Mr. Hiltunen was studying at the Lahti Conservatory, he prepared the present arrangement of Max Bruch's Romanze, Op. 85, for viola and string orchestra. The work has established itself as a staple work in the relatively concise viola repertoire of the Western classical music. Written in 1911 when Bruch was 73 years old, the sweetly expressive and emotionally gentle work marked the end of the century-long period of romanticism. In the same year the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) conducted the premiere of his dismal and strikingly dissonant Symphony No. 4 (1910-11) in Helsinki and Igor Stravinsky’s (1882-1971) ballet Petrushka (1910-11) was also premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, to name a few occasions that significantly shaked the course of the stylistic progress. Mr. Hiltunen explains the arranging process as follows:
"I was commissioned by the Lahti Conservatory in Spring 2019 to prepare arrangements for harp and string orchestra of Jules Massenet's Méditation from Thaïs and Pietro Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana. Both works are instrumental interludes within the dramas, providing a moment of rest, and have gained a huge popularity ever since those were premiered. Separately of the mentioned commission and solely based on my personal interest, the present arrangement of Bruch’s Romanze was undertaken. The actual arranging process was finished only in a couple of weeks, thanks to the profound research through the viewpoint of both a musician and a composer. Two sources were used to which were the first was the main one: Bruch's original composition for viola and symphony orchestra as well as his own reduction for viola and piano. In order to be as faithful as possible on the original tonal essences and emotional principles, the scoring of the symphony orchestra had been examined in great detail. Consequently the significant elements within the accompaniment have been re-orchestrated to strings, utilizing divided tonal palette of the individual sections as well as luminous timbre of the solo violin".