Piano in an orchestra

[astroboy]

I was thinking about this the other day... In some orchestral works (namely symphonies), especially 20th century works, there is a piano part written into the score, not as a soloist but as part of the orchestra. I don't know many of these works (i'm sure there are a lot out there), but a couple that spring to mind are Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms and Barbers Violin Concerto has a piano part in the orchestra.

Which brings me to my question, is there a book out there that has orchestral excerpts for piano?? I know there are books out there with orchestral excerps for every orchestral instrument.. but a piano orchestral exerpts book, i'd be very interested to know. I reckon it would be fun playing with an orchestra, and its not every day we get a chance to play a concerto with an orchestra, so this could be the next best thing!!

Anyone have any experiences or anything about this?

ryan

[Tash]

i had an experience playing with an orchestra...in the junior school, i was the junior school orchestra pianist, we played the mickey mouse march, two movements from vivaldi's the seasons, and star wars, and who knows what else. hell we had glockenspeils in the vivaldi- talk about keeping in mind historical performance practice!

haha that was so not relevant....

[g_s_223]

Yeah, that would be nice to have. Lots of interesting parts in Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Britten, Martinu, Copland, and so on. Apart from the market being quite small, I'd say the main problem would be copyright issues as almost all of these works are 20th century, and hence under rights control. This could make it rather difficult to get approval for exceprts.

[tompilk]

i had an experience playing with an orchestra...in the junior school, i was the junior school orchestra pianist, we played the mickey mouse march, two movements from vivaldi's the seasons, and star wars, and who knows what else. hell we had glockenspeils in the vivaldi- talk about keeping in mind historical performance practice!

haha that was so not relevant....

Hahaha!!! I played with the "wind band" - Mickey Mouse March last year at school!!!
Lol...
Tom

[pianistimo]

at the risk of sounding paranoid - don't you worry about piano shrinkage and being assimilated into the orchestra on the condition you don't take up too much space.  first, they give you a grand, then an upright, and finally you're stuck doing percussion on a hand held casio keyboard.  must remain a soloist on the biggest piano around.  otherwise you'll lose all your rights and never be able to haggle with the conductor again.  (pianists being usually the only ones that can do this successfully).

[Tash]

better yet, screw the orchestra, let's make an orchestra consisting of pianos only- i'll start composing, and you can all be members in my piano orchestra!

[rc]

better yet, screw the orchestra, let's make an orchestra consisting of pianos only- i'll start composing, and you can all be members in my piano orchestra!

Ages ago I saw something on TV, 4 pianists blasting away, it was incredible! I recognized Argerich and Kissin. One of the pieces seemed like Bach, but I'm not sure if Bach wrote any 4-keyboard works, transcription possibly.

I also remember reading about someone who liked to write and arrange works for multiple pianos. 2 - 10 pianos firing at once, not for the weak of heart.

The Nobuo Uematsu thread reminds of his orchestral piece, Kefka, which I remember began with a piano part. Very cool piece, can't remember if the piano came up later or if it was just in the opening.

[tompilk]

Ages ago I saw something on TV, 4 pianists blasting away, it was incredible! I recognized Argerich and Kissin. One of the pieces seemed like Bach, but I'm not sure if Bach wrote any 4-keyboard works, transcription possibly.

I also remember reading about someone who liked to write and arrange works for multiple pianos. 2 - 10 pianos firing at once, not for the weak of heart.

The Nobuo Uematsu thread reminds of his orchestral piece, Kefka, which I remember began with a piano part. Very cool piece, can't remember if the piano came up later or if it was just in the opening.

I have the 4 piano bach thingy video... and two 8 piano arrangements!!! Ill upload if you want.
Tom

[g_s_223]

The most well-known work for 4 pianos is Stravinsky's ballet Les Noces (The Wedding): a marvellous piece (it has singers as well BTW).

Another similar fine work is Pierre Boulez's Sur Incises  for 3 pianos, 3 harps and 3 mallet instruments.

[jas]

I have the 4 piano bach thingy video... and two 8 piano arrangements!!! Ill upload if you want.
Tom

Oooh, do! I'd love to see that.

Jas

[tompilk]

ill upload tonight... probably...
Tom

[quantum]

Orff has 2 pianos in the orchestra for Carmina Burana.  I got to play this piece, minus the orchestra.  So it was an arrangement for 2 pianos plus 5 percussionists and choir.  That alone had a lot of volume, I wonder what the full orchestra must sound like.