I'm looking for some piano music for left hand---not Ravel's Concerto or flashy Chopin Etudes arranged for left hand or anything like that. I want some nice pieces of beautiful music for left hand alone. Do pieces like that exist? Suggestions? Thanks.

Scriabin wrote some really nice stuff for LH. I know of a nocturne and a prelude ... both really nice lyrical pieces.

Hear from the doc yet?

Saint-Saens wrote lots of music for the left hand. Some of it is difficult, some of it easy, but most of it is very nice to the ears. Surprisingly PS does not have a recording of Saint-Saens yet.

Thanks for the information. I'll look for the Scriabin and Saint-Saens pieces. I will greatly appreciate any info that PS members will provide.

Hi John!

Pasting from my sheet music database (in brackets my recommendations):

Mompou: VI Prelude
Bartok: Etude
Blumenfeld: Etude op.36
Bonimici: Etude op.273 no.3
Bach-Brahms: Chaconne (go for it!)
Bridge: 3 Improvisations
Hofmann: Etude op.32
Horn: Fantasie op.33 no.2
Bach-Joseffy: Gavotte (go for it!)
Kalkbrenner: 4-voiced Fugue
Kapustin: 7 Polyphonic Pieces
Donizetti-Leschetizky: Andante Finale from Lucia di Lammermoor op.13
Lipatti: Sonatine
Strauss-Mann: Morgen (go for it!)
Meinders: Etude after Chopin
Philipp: 2 Etudes
Reger: 4 Special Studies
Bach-Sosa: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
Bach-Sosa: 3-part Invention in B flat major
Gluck-Sosa: Lamento d'Orfeo
Ravel-Sosa: La Valse
Stravinsky-Sosa: The Firebird
Sosa: Capriccioso sur un theme de Paganini
Godowsky: Prelude and Fugue on BACH
Godowsky: Suite

Most of them are etudes (yet some are really beautiful and, if not too difficult for you, would deserve a try). If you like to have a glance at them, feel free to PM me.

Did your doctor confirm CTS?

Here's a piece that's supposed to be for left hand alone. Can any of you play it with LH?

What the...? How is that for the left hand? Unless your hand is bigger than Rachmaninoff's or you play with your foot, that piece shouldn't be for the left hand alone.

Don't be deceived by the clever writing. Except when the hands really cannot reach wide intervals meant to be sounded simultaneously, you can find a fingering solution to every musical problem. And was it not the case, there is always an acceptable solution by arpeggiating some notes. This prelude, which actually is an etude, needs "only" wise pedaling (so not to break the lines) and heedful hand shifts. Big chords (like those in ms.6-7) can be arpeggiated.

Look at this example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em8bHlTDlrE

Thanks, Alf. You are so filled with information. I would never believe anyone could play this piece effectively if I didn't see and hear it myself. Unbelievable! I understand how it can be done, but I would never attempt it myself. It would take weeks for me to learn it, and it wouldn't be that good at that.

By the way, Alf, I've investigated most of the compositions you so kindly listed. I find that many of the compositions for LH are virtuoso works that usually require a very large LH which I unfortunately do not have. I've been reading through Moszkowsky's Etudes. They are valid etudes for the most part. One pianist suggested learning some of his Etudes (for LH), Op.92 in preparation for studying the Chopin, Op.10, No. 12. I read through CPE Bach's Solfegietto which he also arranged for LH. Knowing that I can already play it better with both hands ruins that one for me. Anyway, I'm still perusing LH works. Thanks again for all of your suggestions.

I earnestly hope that the need for LH works is temporary for me.

A very good pianist, who looks unfamiliar to me. Who is he ?
Silly thing is, while this prelude looks all but impossible on paper, it doek not look at all hard difficult when you see it played like this. But I am sure that is only perception, and a good indication of the pianists's skills.

John, I heard you play harder works than that, don't overestimate its difficulties. It's easy to read, only you have probably to work on the left hand shifts and the different sound layers. I love pieces with few notes which ask me to concentrate just on tone production and pedal work. By the way, Scriabin composed it (along with the coupled Nocturne) while suffering from neuralgia in the right hand.



Yes, I just printed them from my database (with "left" as search key). Most of them are awfully difficult. But some are doable. The Bach-Brahms is a relatively easy way to get close to a masterpiece of all times. Also the Bach-Joseffy Gavotte from the Violin Partita in E major is an absolute charm and can be accomplished with not much effort.



Good! So how can you be scared of that tiny prelude?



Of course, but don't think your time worths less because your right hand is temporarily out of work. Take the good of it.

No idea! I linked it because he plays the Prelude very well and gives the idea of how it can be performed.



Moreover, it's a wonderful way to practice a not so common technique.

So do we ! Maybe it's a warning not to do too much in a short time...
But as Alf says, it may just be a great opportunity to develop the LH, and who knows, in the end you'll be grateful for it.

The video note says his name is Izumi Tateno, and he only has one other piece on YouTube, apparently...and it's the Scriabin Nocturne for Left Hand, Op. 9 No. 2 (link). The video notes on that one says he had suffered a stroke before recording this Nocturne. You can't tell.

So, carpal tunnel got your right hand, John? It got my left.

just a little OT, but i have a record of Van Cliburn performing the Scriabin Nocturne in Moscow and it just about brings tears every time....