Ravel Tzigane for Violin and String Orchestra

Disclaimer

Sibelius and Note performer did not like this score! The video score layout and audio is not as good as I would like. I cut most of the opening violin cadenza out, as nobody would want to listen to a computer playing it!

Ravel's Tzigane (1924) is one of the most demanding showpieces in the violin repertoire: a sustained fantasy on Romani musical idioms, written for the Hungarian virtuoso Jelly d'Arányi and performed since by every major violinist of the past century. This arrangement places the solo violin inside a string orchestra with piano, drawing on both Ravel's original violin-and-piano version and his full orchestration to produce a concert version that doesn't need a symphony orchestra to bring it off.

At approximately seven minutes, it's long enough to anchor a recital half or close a concert programme on its own. It's one of the few twentieth-century showpieces that audiences recognise by name, which gives it real programming value alongside less familiar repertoire.

See and hear the difference

Check the score and parts preview images above, then watch the complete score video below. They'll give you a clear sense of the engraving quality, part layout, and overall difficulty before you buy. Note that the opening unaccompanied cadenza is shortened in the score video.

Key features

• Instrumentation: Solo Violin + Piano + String Orchestra (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)
• Difficulty: Diploma / Professional (solo violin, piano, and string orchestra all at advanced level)
• Duration: approximately 7 minutes
• Format: PDF download, full score and all parts
• Orchestration: drawn from Ravel's original violin-and-piano version and his full orchestration; piano part retains the cimbalom-like role of the original Luthéal

Who it's for

This arrangement suits professional and conservatoire recitals where a major, well-known showpiece is needed without a full symphonic wind section; orchestras with a strong pianist looking for a distinctive solo vehicle; and concert programmes where something immediately recognisable and theatrically commanding will anchor the billing.