Top 20 Hardest Violin Concerto Openings

In this post, I will rank the top 20 hardest violin concerto openings in order of difficulty, and give the reasons behind my rankings.

#20 Berg Violin Concerto

Although this is the easiest violin concerto opening on my list, the concerto itself is anything but easy. The reason why it takes last place is because the opening of the concerto is just the four open strings-can't get any easier than that! This concerto is fairly modern, as it was written in 1935. This means that the harmonic structure and tonal language of the piece is very different from the "standard" violin concertos, which makes it more difficult.

#19 Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3

Mozart wrote five violin concertos, but numbers 3, 4, and 5 are the most played. Mozart 3 is generally considered to be the "easiest" Mozart concerto, and the opening reflects that. The piece opens with 2 G major chords and some light passage work in first position. It does have a rather long orchestral introduction, which can be a bit nerve-wracking for the performer. However, if you are playing this with piano, the opening can be easily cut down.

#18 Bruch Violin Concerto

This piece has a fairly short orchestral introduction and starts in first position, with the first note being a simple open G. The piece also starts off at a slower pace and with a cadenza like section, where the performer is free to follow their own timing while the orchestra holds a chord. This is great if you are a bit nervous at the start, because no matter what you do, the orchestra will be with you!

#17 Korngold Violin Concerto

The opening of this piece starts in first position and includes several open strings, making it rather accessible. However, similar to the Berg concerto, this piece is farily modern and therefore has a unique tonal language that can be difficult to grasp. I played this piece for my master's recital, and it was quite the challenge to get used to the different intervals and chord structure that Korngold wrote!

#16 Glazunov Violin Concerto

This is another piece that yet again starts in first position and with a rather short orchestral introduction. It is another more modern piece that requires the player to make sense of a lot of dissonances.

#15 Wieniawski No. 2

We are now venturing into the concertos that do no start in first position, and first up we have Wieniawski No. 2! This piece starts in third position, and has a small shift from third to fifth in the opening phrase. Overall, this piece is considered to be one of the "easier" violin concertos, but it is famous for some pretty gnarly fingered octaves on the first page.

#14 Khachaturian Violin Concerto

This piece also starts in third position, but the player must play both an open D and a 2nd finger on the D string in third position D at the same time. Obviously, these must be exactly in tune, which adds to the difficulty. The opening does also go quite fast and requires the player to play pretty high up on the D string.

#13 Shostakovich Violin Concerto

This piece has a fairly short orchestral introduction and starts off with a slow, lyrical melody. It is another more modern piece, written in 1947, so while the opening melody is slow and lyrical, you can't necessarily predict what note is coming next.

#12 Mozart 5

Mozart 5 starts in third position with a slow, lyrical melody. While the notes themselves may not be considered too terribly difficult, what makes Mozart challenging is the style. All of your notes must be exactly in tune, your sound must be clear and bright, and you must use your bow and your vibrato in the ideal classical style, or else the piece just doesn't work. The violin entrance also comes after a long orchestral introduction, which can be nerve-wracking for the performer.

#11 Saint-Saens No. 3

This concerto does start in first position, but the player must make a huge shift on the fifth note. This shift is difficult and very easy to miss! In my opinion, the opening of a piece or a performance can make or break you, so this violin concerto opening is very risky.

#10 Lalo Symphonie Espagnole

This piece starts in third position, but has several very large shifts at the very start. The last note of the first phrase is extremely high, and it is difficult to play that note with a beautiful sound.

#9 Mozart 4

Similar to Mozart 5 which is in the key of A Major and starts out with an A Major arpeggio, Mozart 4 is in the key of D Major and starts out with a D Major arpeggio. The difference is that Mozart 4 starts out much higher-in 6th position rather than third. Additionally, in the opening of Mozart 4, the player must stretch his fourth finger outside of 6th position to play the high A. The tempo of the piece is also quite fast from the beginning, contrary to Mozart 5 which starts out slowly and builds tempo later.

#8 Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

In my own experience with playing this concerto (it's one of my favorites), the intonation is extremely difficult at the beginning! Similar to the Bruch concerto, this piece starts out with a cadenza like passage. While this may be ideal because the performer does not have to stay with or follow the orchestra right away, it's paramount that the passage is interpreted well so that the musical ideas are clear.

#7 Brahms Violin Concerto

This piece starts with octave Ds, like the Khachaturian, but is followed with a very quick run culminating in several octaves. Again, it is very obvious if octaves are in tune or not, so this opening is very challenging! This piece is also extremely long and requires the player to have a lot of stamina.

#6 Sibelius Violin Concerto

This piece starts out in 4th position, and requires the player to either stretch or shift to reach the third note. Both choices present an issue; if shifting, the shift must be absolutely silent, and if stretching, the stretch must be exactly in tune. This opening is extremely soft and delicate, but the player must find a balance between the softer dynamic and keeping a core to his sound.

#5 Dvorak Violin Concerto

This piece starts out with a difficult series of double stops. I played this piece in my masters as well but did not really enjoy it.

#4 Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

I'm sure you were waiting for this one! Similar to Mozart, the style of Mendelssohn must be precise or else it loses a lot of it's character. This opening is extremely difficult for intonation, and has many shifts and octaves.

#3 Beethoven Violin Concerto

The violin entrance comes after an extremely long orchestral introduction-plenty of time for the performer to think about all that could go wrong! The piece also starts out with octaves, which again, must be exactly in tune.

#2 Paganini No. 1

Like all of Paganini's works, this piece is extremely challenging! Following a long orchestral introduction, the violinist must enter playing a series of leaps at a fast pace.

#1 Wieniawski No. 1

This opening is probably the most difficult you can get-it starts with 10ths!