@Terez:

If you're looking for something French, you could always check out the music of Alkan (Some of his etudes are BRILLIANT. Check out Le festin d'Ésope), Vierne's piano works (some of his preludes are damn cool, I personally love the F# Minor Prelude), Satie (We all know of my love for him...), and my latest "discovery," Gabriel Pierné. His piano works are rather awesome-tastic.

But if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to explore around the area of Jehan Alain.

Terez, why not Debussy? Some of the Preludes are doable at your level. Also many early Scriabin's Preludes are manageable and require a kind of technique not much different from Chopin's. You could make up a nice selection of one or the other. If the Hindemith scares you (and I'd understand why), consider some other easier modern sonata, like Kabalevsky's 3rd (Monica's recently recorded it, but you can find other interpretations on YT - notably, one by Horowitz). But I don't even know if you are you interested in Russian repertoire (beyond Shostakovich)...

Well, I did consider some Russians (Rachmaninov and Scriabin), but my teacher said French, so I'm looking into the Frenchies. I have never been overly fond of Debussy. His music is nice, but it doesn't really move me. I have also never really heard anything by Kabalevsky that moved me, though I honestly haven't listened to much Kabalevsky.

Satie is one that I hadn't considered though, and he is early enough to not conflict with Hindemith. I will look into him on YouTube. I have heard a few of his pieces, but I can't really say I know any of his music.

Edit: I should probably add that, if I'm going to work on something difficult, I have to LOVE it. Beethoven 110 pushes that line for me - I do love it, but sometimes I wonder if I love it enough to put all that work into it. Beethoven's pianism doesn't appeal to me, but the music is for the most part good enough to overcome that for me. I'm still not completely convinced by his fugue, though he does some nice things with it. The Hindemith, I think I might actually love more than the Beethoven. There were some parts of Hindemith that I found to be unconvincing, but I have been doing some experimenting with pedaling and articulation, and I think I can make something interesting out of at least some of those bits. But I like the idea of having these sonatas on the program together, so I think I will stick with them. I only wish I could do Chopin's 2nd sonata as well....

So, French it is.



It'd be a multi-tier contrast: French vs German, humorous vs serious, agile vs ponderous, and so on.



GAAAAA! How dare you?! Such a beautifully handelian fugue...

LOL I prefer Bach to Handel...

I looked up Satie and did not find anything I like. If I'm going to go Impressionist I might as well go for Debussy....

You don't need to go for the Preludes, there are many early works worth playing, like for example the Suite Bergamasque. But admittedly, you'd learn more on Debussy by playing some of his Preludes.

How DARE you refer to Satie as an Impressionist?!? His music is not Impressionist in the slightest!!! He is quite literally classified as his own creation, as he does not neatly fit into any one or two styles.

I'd actually suggest you look a little further into his works. Once you move aside the Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes (that EVERYONE plays. Hell, I even have recordings up of them. Should show you how worth-while those must be. ), some of his other stuff is quite interesting.

My suggestions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PV9Ynx- ... re=related - Sonatine bureaucratique. Usually played a fair bit faster than this though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQGM3MfqmI - Gnossienne #4. I know I just told you to ignore these... but this one isn't played quite as much (not actually a true Gnossienne really), but it's quite lovely and haunting. And WICKED easy to learn. I can sight-read this shit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kfd6htVhc - Embryon Desseches #3. Try to ignore the ridiculous dancing please. >_> The music itself is quite good, almost makes me think of something Shostakovich would have toyed with. Gotta love the very sarcastically over-done coda at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxa1ciP5Ht8 - Je Te Veux, a beautiful waltz. Not much more to say on this matter.

http://server3.pianosociety.com/protect ... -mansi.mp3 - So yeah... I really don't like that I'm linking my own recording here... but I can't find any decent recordings on youtube, and I'm too lazy to search elsewhere. >_> Not that I purport my own recording to be very good... but the only copy I could find on youtube was quite horrendous. And I'm actually sorta... pleased (?) with my own recording of this except for one slightly messy run. ANYWAYSSSSSSSSS... my favorite piece by Satie. Delightfully sarcastic and perverted. Just my style. I like to call it my "evil-clown music."

I replied twice and both times forgot to mention Poulenc. Much of his piano music is technically demanding but you could nevertheless sample some of it and make an opinion for yourself.

Poulenc appeals to me more than Debussy, and I've mentioned him to my teacher. She seems to think that, as a piano major, I am doing something wrong by ignoring Debussy and Ravel in favor of other folks who were influenced by them, but she didn't nix Poulenc. I am only really familiar with his sonata for flute and piano, though, and I listened to the Trois Mouvements Perpetuels when you posted them forever ago. My teacher suggested the Trois Pieces. There is some hint in those sets of what I loved in the flute sonata, but not much. Other than that, the only Poulenc I can call to mind was a bit of chamber music that was played on a recent recital, with a strange instrumentation including trombone. I want to say it was called a sonata, but I'm not sure. The first movement was incredibly functional, to the point of being boring, but there were some interesting things going on in it, in the trombone, and there was more of the Poulenc I like in the 2nd and 3rd movements, if I remember correctly.

I made the mistake when working on the Bach e minor partita of not working on the gavotte until nearly the end, because it didn't really speak to me until then. So I was having the same sort of feeling about the courante of the c minor partita (actually a corrente, isn't it? as opposed to the courante in the e minor partita, or is it the other way around?). Anyway, yesterday I had a 30-minute drive or so to make to get to the piano I like to practice on, so I put it on repeat on my iPod and listened to it the whole way there. Now it's one of my favorite movements in the partita, and I already liked all of the other ones, which is pretty much the same thing that happened with the e minor gavotte (it ended up being my favorite of the dances with the exception of the gigue). I think the reason they didn't grow on me from the page is obvious for both - with the e minor gavotte, it was the apparently polyrhythmic notation that put me off, and with the c minor courante (or corrente) it was the long notation. But I'm glad I got that out of the way early on so that I can work on the whole partita at once, rather than movement by movement (though I imagine that the capriccio at least will not be ready until closer to the recital - I've played the sinfonia before, and I also played around with the rondeau some in days past, so I've got that helping me).

Maybe you would like Poulenc's Intermezzo in A-flat? It's not the hardest or longest thing he ever wrote, but it's got a lot of interest (at least for me).

Poulenc rocks A great and vastly underrated composer.

Well, some say Debussy was the only Impressionist. But the things of Satie that I listened to were nearly all quite similar to Debussy in harmony. Some of the things you posted are not, though.


I liked that one, but the ending was weird.


That was interesting. Too short though. The gnossienne might be long enough, and I think I like it more anyway.

Also, the Poulenc intermezzo was nice. I will have to listen to it again a few times.

Right now Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto for a performance on February 20th(with 2nd piano) and March 2nd(with orchestra)
Then I have new pieces by American composers lined up for concerts and recording projects, including pieces by the following composers:

-David Lipten
-Marc Parella
-Carter Pann
-Robert Rollin
-Nick Gianopoulos

and others

I am new to the thread First post.

I am currently learning:

Beethoven Sonata op 81a Les Adieux
Beethoven Sonata op 111 mvt 1
Chopin Ballade 1
Liszt Transcendental Etude 6
Dohnanyi Rhapsody in C major
Debussy Image Book 1 Hommage a Rameau

Hello Pianokid, weclome to PS! I love your repertoire selections.