Recital program help

[stevea]

Hi all,

I am seriously considering revising the second half of my program to be...

  Chopin - Barcarolle, Op. 60
  Debussy - Reflets dans l'eau

  Mazurka in C-sharp major, Op. 63 No. 3
  Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44

I was going to previosly do Schubert's Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 90 No. 3 with Chopin's Impromptu in F-sharp major, Op. 36 and then do the Mazurka and the Polonaise.

What do you think?  And what order would you choose for the Barcarolle and the Reflets dans l'eau?  I was going to put the Debussy after the Barcarolle, since there is more contrast that way, and more distance between the F# major of the Barcarolle and the F# minor of the Polonaise, since there is a lot of F-sharpness going on there.

Thanks,
Steve

[sharon_f]

Do the Debussy first and group the Chopin together.

[arensky]

Both work quite well, but in the first one do you have a lot of F#, Schenker would reduce it to..

I-I-v-i

The second with the Barcarolle and Reflets, reduces to... I-V-v-i, which I guess makes more sense, in fact it's ideal Schenker. On a different level, you now have water/water/polish dance/polish dance. The only weird thing now is the Debussy in the middle of the Chopin; I agree with Sharon, start the first half with Reflets, which reduces to...V-I-v-i; I think i like that progression, the most interesting so far...

I like the pairing of the Schubert o.90 #3 and the Chopin op.36, you should do that some time!

[arensky]

I need help with my 2nd half too!

My program is;

Mozart Sonata in D major K.311    18 minutes
Mozart Fantasy in c minor K.475    12 minutes

                   intermission

Mozart Rondo in a minor K. 511    10 minutes

??                                           about 10 minutes...

Liszt Mephisto Waltz                      12 minutes

Now it gets sticky; I ain't man enough to play an all Mozart recital, besides I really want to play the Mephisto Waltz again, and have relearned most of it, it's going well, BUT summer is over  and I get REALLY busy next week, plus I'm balancing two Concerti(Liszt Eb and Mozart c minor for spring performances) besides learning this program, also for the spring. The Sonata and Mephisto are old pieces, but are not to be underestimated. Anyway all my students are back this Monday, which cuts my practice time down to 2 to 3 hours a day, on average So, what should I play between K.511 and Mephisto? I need to keep each set at about 30 minutes. What would you put in the 2nd slot out of this list of candidates?

RAVEL Sonatine(my current favorite)
CHOPIN Ballade in F op.38(2nd choice)
CHOPIN Ballade in Ab, op.47(done this before, it would be fairly easy for me to get ti back, but it doesn't work does it?
LISZT  two or three of the following;Au lac du Wallenstsdt/Au bord d'une Source/Sonnetto 123 del Petrarca/Liebestraum
SCRIABIN 8 Preludes from op.11 (or Poems, Morceaux and Etudes from other sets), see my posts in What are you working on now(yes again) in Repertoire
 
Or something else entirely??

Inquiring mind  is full, needs help...

[stevea]

My favorite is definitely the Sonatine as well.  I think the Sonatine goes so well with Mozart, and I think that with the three preceding Mozart pieces, the Sonatine would be heard in it's best surroundings.  There is such a strong connection of style and form, and yet harmonically it is completely different, and so I think the minds of the listeners will be in the perfect place to hear the Sonatine with your preceeding pieces.  It's like how film makers like to shoot before dusk, in what they call the golden hour, because everything is bathed in a warm hue (it might even make opossums attractive.....nah).  Mozart is just the right light for the Sonatine.  I plan to do a Mozart sonata/Ravel Sonatine combination at some point.

I listened to the Rondo, Chopin Ballade in F, Mephisto Waltz combination as well.  It also works great.  The opening of the Ballade is a beautiful segue from the Rondo.  And the extreme contrasts in that piece set the stage well for the Waltz.

You're right, I don't think that the Ballade in A-flat works particularly well in this context, although I love that piece.

I like the Au lac du Wallenstsdt/Au bord d'une Source combination.  The Au lac du Wallenstsdt follows the Rondo nicely, and they are both water pieces, and are peaceful  and joyful.  But they are very, hmm, Lisztian (especially Au bord d'une Source, which would be second), and so prepare the ear well for the Waltz.  Sonnetto 123 del Petrarca/Liebestraum is also a good combination.  Au lac du Wallenstsdt/Liebestraum could be very nice (I believe they're both in the same key of A-flat?).  That would definitely be a contrast to the Waltz.  The Sonnetto 123 del Petrarca is also a great piece.  I don't think you could go wrong with a combination of these selections.

I'm not familiar with the Scriabin preludes, or his music so much in general; just on a rather cursory level, so I'll reserve comment on that.

It's a great program(!), and I assume you're timing is because of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's death?

[stevea]

Thanks for the Schenker analysis of the two programs.  Key relationships are very important I think when putting a recital together.  I decided in the end to replace the Reflets dans l'eau with the Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4.

By the way, I'm also doing the Rondo on this recital, in the first half.  Here's the whole thing now:

Brahms
Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 79  No. 1   
Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2

Three Gigues
Bach, Gigue in G major from French Suite No. 5, BWV 816
Brahms, Gigue in A minor, WoO posth. 4 No. 1
Mozart, Gigue in G major, K. 574

Mozart
Rondo in A minor, K. 511

Intermission

Chopin
Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60

Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4
Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op. 63 No. 3

Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44

Thanks again, and let me know what you decide to do between the Rondo and the Mephisto Waltz!

[steinway43]

I need help with my 2nd half too!

My program is;

Mozart Sonata in D major K.311    18 minutes
Mozart Fantasy in c minor K.475    12 minutes

                   intermission

Mozart Rondo in a minor K. 511    10 minutes

??                                           about 10 minutes...

Liszt Mephisto Waltz                      12 minutes

Now it gets sticky; I ain't man enough to play an all Mozart recital, besides I really want to play the Mephisto Waltz again, and have relearned most of it, it's going well, BUT summer is over  and I get REALLY busy next week, plus I'm balancing two Concerti(Liszt Eb and Mozart c minor for spring performances) besides learning this program, also for the spring. The Sonata and Mephisto are old pieces, but are not to be underestimated. Anyway all my students are back this Monday, which cuts my practice time down to 2 to 3 hours a day, on average So, what should I play between K.511 and Mephisto? I need to keep each set at about 30 minutes. What would you put in the 2nd slot out of this list of candidates?

RAVEL Sonatine(my current favorite)
CHOPIN Ballade in F op.38(2nd choice)
CHOPIN Ballade in Ab, op.47(done this before, it would be fairly easy for me to get ti back, but it doesn't work does it?
LISZT  two or three of the following;Au lac du Wallenstsdt/Au bord d'une Source/Sonnetto 123 del Petrarca/Liebestraum
SCRIABIN 8 Preludes from op.11 (or Poems, Morceaux and Etudes from other sets), see my posts in What are you working on now(yes again) in Repertoire
 
Or something else entirely??

Inquiring mind  is full, needs help...

I would love to hear Scriabin's Sonata No. 5 there as a contrast.  But why is your program so heavily tilted toward Mozart?  The first half as Mozart is wonderful but I would depart from there after intermission.  Have you considered this?

[arensky]

I would love to hear Scriabin's Sonata No. 5 there as a contrast.  But why is your program so heavily tilted toward Mozart?  The first half as Mozart is wonderful but I would depart from there after intermission.  Have you considered this?

I am playing the Moz a lot because it's his birthday! I really love Mozart (as if you couldn't tell) and I wanted to include the two important Classical forms (Sonata and Rondo) as well as "free form". Intially I was going cram all the Moz in on the first half, but that's too much at once, so I moved the Rondo to the 2nd half. Being quasi romantic, I felt the Rondo was a good departure point from which to leave Mozart and venture into other things. I like the Scriabin 5th sonata very much, in fact it will be on my all Scriabin recital I will be giving in a couple of years, with lighting a la "clavier a lumieres"! For this recital though, I think that contrast is a bit too shocking, and that's a lot of "big bang" all at once when you put Scriabin and Liszt together. But it's a cool idea! Just one that doesn't really fit my groove...thanks for responding, more food for thought....