Hungarian Variations

Inspired by the composer’s Hungarian ancestry, and reminiscent of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, this major work is very attainable for advanced middle school or high school string orchestra. The violin solo is harder than the orchestral parts and offers an opportunity for your most outstanding violinist to show his/her skill and flair in an exciting solo work, featuring many techniques which are the soul of the violin—expressive melodic passages with lots of vibrato, chromatic and minor scales, arpeggios, slurred and unslurred triplets, trills, grace notes, double stops, and various articulations of the bow. The rest of the orchestra has lovely countermelodies and interesting accompanying parts. Written in D minor in 4/4 time, it is quite straightforward, but the element of expressive playing is more vital to creating the dramatic effects than trying to execute at breakneck speed. This title is available in SmartMusic.