Ellen Taaffe Zwillich - Fantasy for Solo Viola

Like a lot of music that violists play, this piece was originally written for the violin. It was composed for the Indianapolis Violin Competition and was the required piece for competitors in 2014. Zwillich was nice enough to publish this version for viola so that we don’t have to resort to theft to get in on the action! It is a fun, showy piece with lots of opportunities to show different characters.

When listening to violin recordings of this piece, I noticed that some little details were missing in this version for viola. The violin version has a couple of left-hand pizzicato spots that become straight arco passages in the viola version, and there are a few places where double-stops are reduced to single notes. I have never really liked the sound of left-hand pizzicato, so I left those spots as written when I recorded, but my foolish pride compelled me to add the double stops back in. You may notice a particularly nasty, out-of-tune octave near the beginning of the piece that suggests I probably should have left well enough alone… Anyway, it was a lot of fun to learn and play!