I’m taking a well-deserved break from all of the research I’ve been doing recently and finally putting the theme to my water suite on paper. I originally composed it for the piano, but something that… ambient… needs an orchestral treatment to do it justice. I notice that I’m developing a preference for ensembles of strings, harp, and flute, but this one also has a French horn carrying the melody to give it somewhat of a stronger, nobler quality than “Painting a Sunrise”, the other piece I’m currently working on with this orchestral arrangement.

But enough of that; onto the main subject of this post: the viola, as an instrument, is overlooked. Most of the solo string repertoire is created for either violin or cello, and some performers and composers can’t even read viola parts because they’re written on the tenor clef (I’ve written enough string work to be able to read fairly well on the tenor clef myself). Even in an orchestral setting, the viola mostly plays inner harmonizations, which means it’s usually playing second fiddle (pun intended) to the violin. The (first) violin is usually playing the melody, so it is heard, the cello is usually playing the bass, so it is heard, but the poor viola is almost always sandwiched right between the two. It adds something, but people just tend to group the sound into “strings”; it isn’t meant to be picked out.

But while deciding which instrument to harmonize the horn part in my piece to, I noticed that the upper registers of the cello, while nice, had a sort of “hollow” timbre, while the violin was too “stringy” to mesh well with the horn. The viola, however, yields a full, rich sort of sound that fits the horn part perfectly without that sort of “stringy” feel (the string quakes in a way that the horn does not, and for this passage, I wanted a sort of noble but tranquil feel). Though I spent a while tinkering with the ensemble and the dynamics, the final result sounds excellent. This leads me to believe that the viola is overlooked, probably because of the propensity in classical music to follow a traditional ensemble. I guess a single string doesn’t usually play with the horns.

As for the rest of the piece, I’ve also noticed that the harp carries an arpeggiated bassline excellently (I guess that’s why they call it “harp-like!”), even when overlaid with almost any solo instrument. I find myself orchestrating a lot of ascending 6/8 arpeggios in this manner. It works well with the horn (not really the trumpet, though), the flue, the oboe, the violin, the clarinet, and perhaps even the piano. I suppose harp + flute is my favorite combination, though it isn’t suitable to every piece.

Ah, to have the chance to do this more often… and to be able to write a minute of music without having to spend an hour ruminating over what would sound best 🙂