Candidate #3: Act II Solo from Giselle
Probability of #ViolaFail: moderate
This #SymphonyHack comes to us from Philippe Chao, who plays with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Having played this solo myself, I can say that the Giselle parts are a mess! They are handwritten and contain many added fingerings and bowings, which are then erased and more bowings and fingerings are written over those! It’s a challenge to read, especially with dim pit lighting. Here’s what got Philippe to act:
“It's hard enough to sort through and contend with cluttered tutti parts layered with decades worth of performance markings from countless orchestras and conductors. For this major principal solo in our repertoire, I took it upon myself to provide future Principal Violists with clean and practical parts so that all of their energies can be focused on the music and not an archeological excavation! As a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra which plays for an endless parade of the world's top ballet companies for over two decades, I've seen several versions of the Giselle solo cross my stand. Here I've note-set both the longer version and the one that we've played with the American Ballet Theater productions. Both are set with the tutti parts on a double staff, like in the handwritten versions, and are meant to fit seamlessly into the performance parts. And they have been performance-tested at the Kennedy Center!”
One example of the offending part! Plus: I hate it when the repeated measures are not written out. Obviously, other players hate this too. This also adds to the #ViolaFail probability.
Philippe has created a practical part that eliminates page turns in the middle of a phrase (which was also a problem in the original!), and can be simply inserted into your ballet score. This is a must for every principal player!