[How to Practice] Rieding Violin Concerto in G Major, op.24 first movement -1-

About Oskar Rieding

Oskar Rieding (1840-1918) was a violinist, conductor and composer originated in Northern Germany. After studying at the Berlin Academy of Music and Arts and the Leipzig Conservatory, he went to Vienna, Austria. In Vienna, he was able to meet people and that led him to be the concertmaster of the opera orchestra in Budapest, Hungary. After that, he lived in Hungary for 32 years. While working as the concertmaster, he wrote works for violin and piano and violin concertos.

I’m using the edition of Solos for Young Violinists Vol.2, and the title says “Concerto in G Major op.24”, however, according to Wikipedia and IMSLP, its title is “Concertino”.

The level of the difficulty of Rieding Concerto in G Major, first movement (Solos for Young Violinists Vol.2)

I met this this concerto after I started teaching, and I found it’s a very good concerto to learn since there are clearly different characters, and variety of violin techniques in this movement.

In this movement, the 1st to 5th positions are used, and students can learn various bow usages and left hand techniques including scale, arpeggio (including slurred 4 stringed arpeggio), octave, continuous down bows.

With my edition of Solos for Young Violinists Vol.2, the first movement takes 4 pages. It is rather a long movement, so that students can develop the stamina and concentration to be able to play/perform through 4 pages.

If it’s difficult, it’s a good idea to finish every two pages.

I think it is suitable for students of Suzuki Violin School Book 5-6.

The Suzuki Book 5-6 contains mainly Baroque pieces and concertos, so I introduce this concerto movement to students along with the Suzuki Books.

[How to practice] Rieding Concerto in G Major first movement

Beginning – m.16

Some students have difficulty playing 16th notes at m.10 in tune, but by finding the placement of fingers by thinking of half steps and whole steps, one will be able to play smoothly.

I recommend to use spiccato stroke at m. 16, so use almost whole bow for the slurred up bow and come to the right place for the spiccato.

mm.35-37

This is the section all the students have a little hesitation at the beginning. You are not the only one !

First, let’s work on your left hand. Practice the top notes only and get used to the notes and shifting. Repeat many times as below every time you practice.

Once you feel comfortable playing the top notes in tune, then try practicing as printed in the music.

When you practice as printed in the book, you need to use certain amount of the bow for each note, not only thinking of crossing the strings.

mm.50-52

For the students who is not yet fully familiar with the 5th position would have some difficulty here. But, we’ll make it !

First, let’s work on the shifting. Not only going up, but go up and down, many times; 3rd to 5th, 5th to 3rd. Pay attention that your thumb as well as whole hand and arm always have to come to the position comfortably. Don’t leave the thumb at the 3rd position when you go up to the 5th position.

Second, get used to playing the notes used in mm.50-52. They are a part of D Major scale and arpeggio on the 5th position. You can practice both with and without slurs. Repeat many times.

After working as above, you can try practicing as printed in the book.

mm. 67-69

For the intonation of octave, I recommend to practice as below:

Not only playing, you need to listen very carefully. Are our octaves in tune? or do you hear two different Fs (or Ds / Bs) when you play as octaves? If so, can make adjustment to make it to be the same pitch (of course they are 8va apart.)

mm.88-91

In this section, many students have difficulty playing the triplets suddenly.

I recommend counting or actually play triplets while you are playing C natural.

If you can play several times as above, try playing the same way, but start one measure before, and repeat several times as marked in red in above.

Then, try practicing as printed in the book.

More practice tips on mm.124-end here:

[How to Practice] Rieding Violin Concerto in G Major, op.24 first movement -2-

Let’s practice together !

Happy Practicing!

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