Ideas for a russian themed recital

[astroboy]

Towards the end of the year i'm having a recital playing pieces that were written by Russian composers. So far i've already chosen to open with Scriabin's Fantasie op 28, and close with Prokofiev's 6th Sonata. I need some ideas of what I can put in between these 2 pieces.. hope fully something not too insane.. My timeframe for the whole recital is about an hour. I was thinking maybe a selection of Rachmaninoff Preludes/Etudes/Moments Musicaux.. Any ideas would be great.

Thanks!

[thierry13]

I think your current idea is very good! Maybe you could throw in a medtner sonata ?

[retrouvailles]

Medtner would be a great idea. Also, maybe think about adding more recent Russian composers, like Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Schnittke, or Shchedrin to your list for a bit of variety. A purely Romantic recital might get a bit redundant.

[dnephi]

Bach-Rachmaninoff Partita in E Major would be an excellent choice.

[thierry13]

Medtner would be a great idea. Also, maybe think about adding more recent Russian composers, like Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Schnittke, or Shchedrin to your list for a bit of variety. A purely Romantic recital might get a bit redundant.

Prokofiev's 6th sonata is not really the idea I had of romantic music... And remember he only has 1 hour.

[retrouvailles]

Oh, I didn't see the Prokofiev. Still, I would say that Prokofiev is not far off from Romanticism. Anyways, the composers I listed have very short pieces, so yes, I kept the time limit in mind.

[indutrial]

To stick with your historical time frame, why not think about doing something by Mosolov, Protopopov, Roslavets or one of the other numerous avant-ish Soviet composers who were doing stuff in the helter-skelter years following Scriabin and preceding the greatest years of Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Again, there is a great thread on www.pianophilia.com dedicated to Scriabinist music from Russia which could potentially yield some interesting material.

If you want to stick with stuff in the vein of romanticism or Prokofiev's neoclassicism, why not look into some stuff from other Soviet composers...not necessarily Russian composers only. There are a lot of good Armenian and Ukrainian composers whose works would probably fit well in this repertoire. Let me know if you want a copy of Abramian's piano sonata. That's a cool piece that I've never heard of anybody playing.

[astroboy]

Thanks for all your great suggestions! I'm gonna have a listen to all the composers that have been suggested and find something that i like. thanks again!

[tompilk]

you'll have to play the schedrin humoresque as an encore... 

[remy]

Astroboy,

Are you familiar with the music of Horowitz' teacher, Felix Blumenfeld?

His piano music is just plain exquisite.

The 24 Preludes Op.17 approach or equal the quality of Chopin's. I especially like Nos. 4, 5, 7, 15, 21, and 22. You can find the sheets at piano.ru, if you don't already have them.

Another great favorite of mine is his Impromptu Op.13 No.2 in G flat major. The piece is saturated with joy.


For moody loveliness, there's Vasily Kalinnikov's Moderato in e flat minor. The piece is perfect for "playing the spaces between the notes".

Kalinnikov's Waltz is also wonderful, and easy to learn.


remy

[franz_]

Why does everyone want to give the most strange and unknown suggestions? :p

[tompilk]

Why does everyone want to give the most strange and unknown suggestions? :p

because it's better than hearing Rach sonata 2 and g minor, C# minor preludes for the  100000000th time...

[indutrial]

Why does everyone want to give the most strange and unknown suggestions? :p

Why do you feel the need to editorialize after making no suggestions at all? God forbid somebody suggest pieces you and teacher haven't discussed at some point.

[minor9th]

Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue in D minor Op. 87 No. 24.

[mephisto]

If you want something not so insane (in therms of harmony), I would suggest music by these composers:

Catoire: op. 12
Blumenfeld:
Lidov
Glazunov
Liapunov and Bortkiewicz. They all wrote beautifull romantic chopinesque piano-music.

Or some of Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues. They are very tonal (most of them..)

As well as, of course, Rachmaninov's Preludes and Etudes (selections).

[lost_child]

I think the last Rachmaninoff's Moment Musicaux is good. 

Glazunov and Liapunov are also fine. : D But maybe you must try shorter and virtuosic pieces, because sixth Prokofiev's Piano Sonata is very longgg.. Or maybe you can play Etude-Tableaux? 

[indutrial]

You may also want to look into any number of different pieces by Samuel Feinberg. Any of his early piano sonatas would fit in very nicely with your Scriabin and Prokofiev works.

[pita bread]

Stick with Rachmaninoff etudes or moment musicaux... there's a reason why some pieces are obscure.

[retrouvailles]

Stick with Rachmaninoff etudes or moment musicaux... there's a reason why some pieces are obscure.

If the reason you're thinking of is because they suck, you'd be partially right. Some other pieces are obscure because of other reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the piece itself, and this is actually the case for a lot of the suggestions here that are obscure.

[indutrial]

Stick with Rachmaninoff etudes or moment musicaux... there's a reason why some pieces are obscure.

The tendency to "stick with" things in the first half of this post is indeed one of the most direct reasons. I don't think that many of the unconventional suggestions here are obscure because of any mediocrity on the composers' parts. Besides the door swings both ways on that argument, since there's also plenty of reasons that obscure pieces come to be suggested - not least the fact that nobody can seem to fathom a Russian program that doesn't include Rachmaninov's work. I wholeheartedly agree with Tomplik that some of the Rach works get a little old after the 7 billionth time you hear them being played.

[klavierkonzerte]

what about anton rubenstein's music?
listen to his etude op 23 no.1 in F major, you'll love it the first time you hear it and so will your audience, i started studying it today.

[sharon_f]

what about anton rubenstein's music?
listen to his etude op 23 no.1 in F major, you'll love it the first time you hear it and so will your audience, i started studying it today.

I agree. Rubinstein wrote some wonderful piano music. Also look at some of the Barcarolles. I love the one in G major.

[richard0428]

A few late suggestions. I'm also giving a Russian programme (in a couple of weeks) and among the favorite pieces I unearthed while chosing the music for the recital are Medtner's Primavera (op. 39 no. 3), the Kalinnikov Elegie and loads of pieces by Bortkiewicz, such as the Elegie op. 46, or  the studies op. 15 (especially no. 4, a technically easy but extremely beautiful piece, in 7/8 time!, and the passionate no 8, perhaps the best-known of the set). There's lots more wonderful Bortkiewicz out there. If you play Rachmaninov, I suggest considering the only two songs the composer himself arranged for piano: Lilacs and Daisies; they make an exquisite pair and show the full-blooded romantic side of the composer to perfection. Lilacs is also quite a showy piece, and makes a great foil to the terrifying violence of the Prokofiev (what a piece!).
   Personally I'd consider your choice carefully if you decide to perform a Medter sonata. I'm playing the Fairytale Sonata in my recital at the end of May, and it's given me more trouble than anything else in the program apart from the Godowsky Java Suite selections (not Russian I know, but that's another story). Technically it's doable, but most of the Medtner I know (including some of the short pieces) is thre devil to interpret, and it can take a long time to form a really convincing interpretation. At least that's been my experience; maybe the Fairytale Sonata, with its sectional form, is just one of the trickier ones to pull off. Fantastic piece, though.

[freddychopin]

What about some pieces by "The Mighty Handful":  Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin.

They all have amazing pieces to play!

[richard0428]

Another little-played piece that's great for a recital, although maybe a little long this time: Glazunov's Theme and Variations, a wonderful showpiece that belies the idea that seems to have been generally accepted  over the last few decades that his music is dull or pedantic. Maybe try the symphonies (the set on BIS records is fantastic!) for further proof of Glazunov's stature. He really did write some wonderful music.