Puh-len-tee...

Chopin's three "Heroic" polonaises have my attention right now. Memorizing his second concerto, too. Rach's second is on the back burner but still very much alive.

Bach prelude and fugue...Beethoven Sonatas...trying my hand at Jazz, that's not going too smoothly but I'm convinced it will help my performance anxiety (Cziffra comes to mind).

Pete

Wait, Chopin's three "Heroic" polonaises? I think that the Op. 53 in A-flat Major is the only one with that title. Either way, it's still amazing to be able to play any of his polonaises (except the 1817 one in G Minor maybe)!!

Yeah there's three. Opp. 44, 53 and 61. There's a few structural differences that set them apart.

Note the long introductions in those three as compared to the others.

Learning them as a set (when you can see the striking similarities among them) is much easier than going one by one.

Pete

My first College assignment!

Bach: Tocatta in D major
Mozart: Sonata No. 18 in D major, K. 576
Schumann: Carnaval Op. 9

1) Some pieces from Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young
2) Two pieces from Scharwenka's Album for the Young
3) THE Rachmaninov prelude (but just for self-amusment...remember Rachmaninov had very big hands. I have small hands, but only hands small )

hello, this is my first post on the pianosociety forum


Chopin ballade no.1
Beethoven sonata op.13
Bach prelude and fugue (can't remember )
Handel suite no.5

The chopin is about half way done, i have the first two movements of the beethoven. I'm going to perfect the first movement before moving on to the third. The handel suite is almost done, I'm just adding some finishing touches. And the bach is pretty new so i havent gotten very far.

I'm also working on Chopin etude op.10 no.1 for a "duel" with a good friend of mine.

I'm going to try chopin 24 preludes op.28 soon.

With this repertoire, I think you can name yourself Present Pianist. I hope you will post your Ballade No. 1.

well, I'm pretty young. My user name is future pianist because i want to be a professional pianist when I'm older.

yes i will post my first ballade shouldnt be too much longer

Hello

Well, I`m working on...

*Andante Spianato (Chopin, but actually finished I need to keep it alive for a concert)
*Andaluza (Granados, almost finished)
*Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Transcription for 8 hands (I cant wait to hear how it sounds, just doing my individual piece for a while now...)

I want to start with :
*Fantasie Impromptu (Chopin)
*Lyrische Stücke op.43 - VI. To the Spring (Grieg)

I`ll see how it goes

Elysium

I'm trying to decide what to play in the fall, and this is what I've come up with so far:

Bach Partita in E Minor - I think that I will work on all movements except for the Gavotta and the Gigue this fall. I have to do a recital in the spring, and I'd like to play the whole thing then, but I think the Gigue is the most difficult movement, and I just haven't gotten a feel for the Gavotta yet. Has anyone here ever played this partita (especially the Gavotta) before?

Chopin 25/12 Etude in C Minor - I've been wanting to do this one for a while, but I think it's finally time, since I've been idly learning it for years and can play it memorized at about half tempo with no mistakes, if not more than half tempo.

I always have difficulty choosing my third piece, because I'm not very fond of much from the 18th century (not counting the cuspers like Beethoven and Schubert, which I can't choose because I always have a Chopin piece) and I'm not very familiar with contemporary music. I think I'll end up going with the Rachmaninoff Prelude in D Major Op. 23 No. 4.

Any tips on any of these pieces would be greatly appreciated.

There has been a lot of contemporary music on the Audition forum, lately. Maybe you can find something you like there. I think your Rachmaninoff selection is good. This is one of the 'tear-jerkers' for sure. I hope the women in your audience bring a tissue. Have you ever played op. 23, no. 6? I'm practicing it now, and it is also very beautiful, but not as dramatic as no. 4. It is shorter, though, if you want to cut some time out of your program.

Yes, but I've never really seriously worked on it. The Gigue is one of the most audacious things JSB ever wrote, and possibly one of the hardest too, musically perhaps even more so than technically.
I assume your problem with the Gavotte is how the triplets relate to the dotted 16ths ? My approach is to take the dotted 16ths as normal, except when pitted against triplets, then I plaim them together with the last note of the triplets. I believe that is normal practice in Baroque music, and it sounds a bit messy if you try to do it otherwise.

I definitely haven't decided on this one yet, and if I do it this fall, that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be playing it for my recital in the spring, because I've got to have a fresh repertoire for the spring semester - I'll definitely want to do the partita for the recital (and I want to start working on it now) but that's the only thing I've decided on.

My fall repertoire will be used for an adjudication at the end of the fall semester where all the piano profs will decide if they're going to let me major in piano performance. They've already given me a good scholarship, but I'll have to play some more difficult stuff for that trial - my scholarship audition stuff was worked up in a hurry.


That's actually a good one - I think I like it more than the other, which was recommended by my teacher. I hunted for a recording, since there's not one posted at piano society, and I found one here (link). I think my Chopin pick is dramatic enough, don't you?


I think I'm looking forward to working on this movement more than any other - I've never heard a recording, but I imagine the eighth notes to be stacatto and the dotted eighths to be accented pretty much throughout the whole thing. Thinking about trying to maintain that throughout is actually exciting.


Yes!


Yay! I hope my teacher approves...


That's exactly my problem - I don't usually have a problem with oddly matched rhythms to this degree, but I've been having the hardest time making something musical out of it, taking it literally. It still won't be my favorite movement - the Gigue and the Toccata are both awesome, and the Sarabande and the Air I love. I even really like the Courante and the Allemande...just not so much as the others. The Gavotte I think will always be my least favorite, but at least I don't have to hate it now.

Fortunately, the Toccata and the Gigue are the only movements that will require real work, lol...

Thanks for the link to the prelude. I have only listened to Ashkenazy over on that Russian site. It's nice to hear other recordings. I noticed this woman changes the pedal more often and Ashkenazy makes more dramatic dynamic changes. I like both versions.


Yes! Such a nice little easy-going, light-hearted little ditty. (You must be a good player to tackle such hard pieces.)

Ha!

Depends on what your definition of "good player" is - I think of it more like, I tackle the hard pieces so that I can become a good player...I've messed around with both the partita and the Chopin etude for years, though never really practicing the partita seriously. The etude, I have actually practiced a good deal over the years, and now all that is left is to bring it up to performance tempo. I have four months to do it...