Sarasate (Carmen Fantasy)

Getting in shape DAY 5--all about thirds! This one is truly a killer for the left hand to practice, and I'm not sure if I've ever heard this "moderato" (though my only points of reference are the legendary recordings of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Perlman). Violinists, this could be a study in itself. The secret that I discovered is that you can't shift between thirds with the arm, but with the wrist. It's almost like a super wide wrist vibrato with the third held in position. In any case, this could be a great warmup any day to build left hand strength for all the fingers!

[thoyo]

Very nice! This seems like one of those extremely difficult pieces, maybe just a notch below or even on par with Erlkonig.