Concerto in B minor, op. 15 no.4

The six concertos for five flutes that comprise Joseph Boismortieras op. 15, published in France in 1727, are fixtures in the flute ensemble repertory. On his title page, Boismortier allowed that they could be played by other instrumentation, such as oboes or violins, so he likely would not have objected to this transcription for viola quartet. The concertos require four players of roughly equal ability. Advanced players will find them a delightful challenge. On the other hand, except for a few isolated passages, they do not go beyond first position, putting them in reach of good intermediate level players (if the tempos are not too fast).