pieces that really work the 4th and 5th fingers?

[stevie]

as with most pianists, these fingers are considerably less dextrous than the others.

sure, there are plenty exercises out there to help them, but what about compiling a list of pieces for improving these most cumbersome of digits?

obvious starters would be a few chopin etudes, 10-2 especially.
but also 25-6 and 25-8...3rds and 6ths especially help gaining dexterity with these fingers.

then theres liszt's la campanella, some sections involve 4/5 trills, and a sustained 14541454 pattern, which is very demanding on those fingers.

and what about the left hand 4th and 5th fingers?!
very rarely needed to be extremely dextrous, but wouldnt it be nice to help these little guys out?
the only ones i can think of are the godowsky studies on chopin's etudes, the left hand 10-2 especially, but also the left hand inversions of the 25-6 and 25-8 too

many of the other left hand-alone pieces demand great dexterity in these fingers, and this is a unique corner of the virtuoso repertoire...
even a pianist who has amazing techniques and can play all the chopin etudes and liszt etudes in record time can be really shocked and brought down to earth when they use these digits intensively in these pieces.

[thalbergmad]

I recently learnt the Thalberg-Rossini-Le Semiramide.

There are  couple of passages where you have to maintain a trill with the 4th and 5th fingers of your left/right hand whilst playing the melody with your thumb. Thankfully this does not go on for long.

Passages like these are common in Thalbergs Operatic Fantasies. When i started to learn his works, i got in the habit of practising trills with all combinations of fingers just for 10 mins per day. This really helped out.

[klavierkonzerte]

alkan comme le vent from the minor keys etudes

it did wonders for my 4th 5th fingers

[lisztwasgod]

My first reaction is La Campanella, but that piece is not worth the sweat and tears...there are many MANY more issues in that than 4/5 dexterity...in general, its a big HUGE pregnant dog.

However, i can think of several that personally helped my dexterity and adroitness with the formerly limp part of my hands. Liszt's Tannhauser Overture helped with alternating fingers. His Hungarian Rhapsodies No.'s 2 10 and 12 also help considerably with trilling on beat and off (or at least with the rubati flare) with 4 and 5.

Technically speaking, the best advice i could possibly offer to you for actually PLAYING with 4 and 5 is to not simply lift and lower the two fingers (which makes things exceptionally more difficult), but I find it easier, rather, to rotate the wrist and hand as if you are playing a minor chord with 1 2 and 3 when the fourth finger hits.

[rachmanny]

Is there any 5th or 6th grade piece in the free sheet music section  that helps with the 4 and 5 fingers?

Rachmanny

[rachmanny]

Technically speaking, the best advice i could possibly offer to you for actually PLAYING with 4 and 5 is to not simply lift and lower the two fingers (which makes things exceptionally more difficult), but I find it easier, rather, to rotate the wrist and hand as if you are playing a minor chord with 1 2 and 3 when the fourth finger hits.

is it really technically ok to rotate the wrist while performing with the 4 and 5 fingers?
what about in  very evened out pieces (fingerwise) like prelude 2 book 1 from bach which can have a lot of burden on the 4/5 fingers. can the wrist be slightly rotated in a piece like that?

rachmanny