Romantic minus pedal?

[cygnusdei]

Anyone know of a romantic piece that is played strictly without pedals? Actually make that anything past the classical period.

[jlh]

Why would there have to be?

[mephisto]

He is just asking.

Hamelin's Scarlatti Etude doesn't have to be played with pedal. There is one section, where you could use it, but it isn't necessary.

[richard black]

Well, I suppose if you play it fast enough Liszt's 'Gnomenreigen' doesn't really need any pedal.

[cygnusdei]

I thought Gnomenreigen had pedal points. I'll have to dig out my stash ....

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Alkan's Le Staccatissimo from his Esquisses, op.63 comes to mind.

[mikey6]

Brahms op.76 no.2 possibly - all staccato.  Mind you that's no reason not to use pedal but.... it's on odd request.

[richard black]

Mind you that's no reason not to use pedal but.... it's on odd request.

Maybe someone's trying to build a programme for an instrument like the one I played the other night where the pedal was held on by faith and gravity!

[fiasco]

4th movt of Chopin's second sonata uses no pedal, but that movement is kind of an anomaly anyway.  I don't like it when people play romantic music with too little pedal, some people seem to think using the pedal is a crutch of some kind.  So they don't use it enough and the music doesn't sound as good as it should.  Like Cziffra's Wild Jagd.

[cygnusdei]

4th movt of Chopin's second sonata uses no pedal, but that movement is kind of an anomaly anyway.  I don't like it when people play romantic music with too little pedal, some people seem to think using the pedal is a crutch of some kind.  So they don't use it enough and the music doesn't sound as good as it should.  Like Cziffra's Wild Jagd.

The last B flat minor chord is definitely over a pedal point.

[fiasco]

You're right, that chord is over pedal point.
What I've noticed about this piece, and I've posted this here before, is that the whole thing sounds better when pedal is used throughout (Cziffra's version, on youtube) as opposed to majority of performances where no pedal is used (Horowitz, etc...).  It was this that made me decide to use pedal freely when playing anything, even if it is not written in.  Example, I was learning Chopin's Raindrop prelude, and during the middle section with left hand chords and repeating G# in right hand, this is written to be played without pedal.  So I learned it like this, and just wasn't getting what I wanted out of it.  Once I added pedal, it sounded so much better, you could do so much more with the piece.  So I explained this to some people and played both versions and everyone agreed the pedal sounded so much better, so that's what I now do.

[cygnusdei]

I think you don't need pedals in Hémiones from Saint-Saëns' Le Carnaval des Animaux. The same also for Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 2.

[rachfan]

Well, take Chopin, for example.  His Etude, Op. 10, No. 6 in Em, despite its lyrical character, should be played with virtually no pedal for total clarity.  Some pianists envelop this piece in pedal creating a hazy fog.  If you've never heard it played nearly completely without pedal before (except for finger legato), here is my recording:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,18743.0.html