Nolck Petit Album de Concert for Viola and Piano

August Nölck's Petit Album de Concert is a set of six short concert pieces, published by Bosworth and arranged here for viola and piano. Each piece leads with a musical character worth playing; the bowing technique grows naturally from the music rather than the other way round.

The collection sits at around ABRSM Grade 4 and works through a range of bowing skills in a sensible sequence, while also giving a young violist real work on position changing and third position. The opening Tempo di ballo in C major addresses bow distribution from the start: two beats on the down bow and one on the up bow, with the up bow appearing sometimes legato and sometimes as a lifted staccato. Slurring into accents adds another layer. The Tempo di minuetto in G major is lighter in weight, with the focus on slurs and dynamic contrast within a gentle dance idiom. The Allegretto grazioso in A minor moves to 6/8 and introduces a two-note slur with a lifted staccato up bow, alongside broken slur patterns that ask for rhythmic clarity.

The two Andante movements address tone quality and bow weight, and on viola they also test how comfortably a student holds third position through a sustained phrase. The first, in E minor, works on drawing a sustained sound through longer phrases within slurs. The second, in D major, asks for three notes on the down bow to one on the up bow, a bow division that teaches the player a great deal about managing speed and weight. The collection closes with a Tempo di valse in F major, which calls for a light, off-the-string stroke at the heel, a useful technique to arrive at through a piece the student will actually want to practise.

Together the six pieces run to around ten minutes, making the collection useful both as lesson material and as a short recital programme. The variety of keys and time signatures means individual pieces can be taken out of sequence to address a particular technical need, whether that's bow distribution or a shift into third position.

Check the score and parts preview images above, then watch the complete score video below. They'll give you a clear picture of the engraving quality and overall difficulty before you buy.

Key features:

• Instrumentation: Viola and piano
• Difficulty: approximately ABRSM Grade 4
• Duration: approximately 10 minutes (complete set)
• Style focus: bow distribution, lifted staccato, sustained tone within slurs, off-string playing, position changing into third position
• Format: PDF download, full score and viola part

A Grade 4 violist who needs to develop bowing awareness alongside confidence in third position will find this collection well-suited to that work. Individual pieces stand alone as short recital pieces; the full set makes a solid programme for a student concert or school performance evening. Teachers looking for Romantic viola repertoire that does real technical work without resembling an exercise book will find plenty here.