20th Century Repertoire suggestions for Masters recital

[Alde]

Hello,
I am preparing for my final Masters piano recital and I need to perform a solo piano piece that was composed within the past 50 years.

Any suggestions?

[sharon_f]

Corigliano Etude Fantasie
Ligeti Etudes
Vine Sonata

[mike_lang]

As always, I am going to advocate the "Gargoyles" of Lowell Liebermann, written in 1989 I believe.

Best,
ML

[viking]

Corigliano Etude Fantasie
Ligeti Etudes
Vine Sonata

I'm not familliar with the Vine Sonata.  I looked it up on amazon and it has pretty good reviews.  Any chance of a rec or sheets anywhere out there?  Anyone have any more info on this piece?

Sam

[jre58591]

I'm not familliar with the Vine Sonata.  I looked it up on amazon and it has pretty good reviews.  Any chance of a rec or sheets anywhere out there?  Anyone have any more info on this piece?

Sam

this piece was composed in 1990 by carl vine for his friend michael kieran harvey, who is a great pianist. i have sheets and recordings of it, but since it was written in 1990, its very much under copyright. ill see if i can upload a recording sometime in the near future. carl vine has also written two more piano sonatas and is one of the most prominent composers in australia. his 2nd piano sonata, written in 1997 for michael kieran harvey,  is another great sonata to look into. his 3rd sonata, written in 2001 i think, is to be recorded soon. as a matter of fact, someone at my school was comissioned to record it. overall, vine's music, especially his 1st piano sonata, is very interesting music and would be a great addition to one's repertoire.

[minor9th]

Gubaidulina's Chaconne or any of Schnittke's Sonatas would be good.

[viking]

Thanks alot for the info there Jre.
Sam

[kevinatcausa]

Joyce Yang played the (edit: first) Vine Sonata at this year's Cliburn.  There's a video of her performances available on the Cliburn Website that includes her Vine (Click on "Archived Performances" in the "Cliburn Competition" portion of the menu, then follow the "streaming video" link, then choose Joyce Yang.  The sonata's about 1:28:30 in).  Registration is required, but it's free and it's well worth it.

Alternatively, her performance is available on iTunes for $1.98.

There's also a couple of Ligeti Etudes (#1, 2, 5) performed at the end of Giuseppe Andaloro's video, and three versions of Corigliano's Etude-Fantasie  (at the opening of Alexander Moutouzkine and Elizabeth Joy Roe's preliminary recitals, and at the opening of Joyce Yang's final round recital).  Lowell Liebermann's Gargoyles appear in Chenxin Xu's recital, though I'm not sure of the exact timing.

Again, these are available on iTunes.

[klavierwunder]

yes the ligeti etudes would be really good, take a look at book 1

[soliloquy]

Corigliano Etude Fantasy is one of my alltime favorite pieces, but don't use it.  I've never seen someone use it in a competition or audition and go through to the next round.  Never.


Check out Rzewski's "Squares" or his North American Ballads Nos. 3/4/5, Xenakis' "Mists", Nancarrow's "Tango?". De Falla's "Fantasia Baetica" and anything by Ferneyhough or Finnissy.  Maybe Ornstein's Sonata No. 7 or 8 would be good too.  There's also "Pianoforte" by Vivier which is worth looking into, and Vine wrote 2 other piano sonatas you might check out, though the first one is the best IMO.  Movements from Vignt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus by Messiaen, particularly Nos. 6 and 10, would work well.  Pieces by Kagel like MM51, or some of John Cage's "Etudes Australes" would be equally acceptable, not to mention any movement(s) from Dillon's Book of Elements suites.  Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato is a very nice piece that shouldn't be overlooked.  Salvatore Sciarrino is definitely a good candidate, particularly his Sonata No. 4 or a couple of his nocturnes.  William Bolcom's "12 New Etudes" are great pieces, particularly "Vers la Silence"; his 9 Bagatelles are also very nice.  One of Stockhausen's Klavierstucke would work, or one of Boulez's shorter pieces like Incises or Douze Notations, or maybe even his Premiere Sonate pour Piano if you're up to it.  Sorabji has some short pieces he wrote in the 80's that aren't too tough also.  Clarence Barlow's Fantasia-Sonata isn't impossible.  Look at Bright Sheng's "my song" and Jay Allan Yim's "Tendril".  Then there are always some insanely difficult pieces like Xenakis' Evryali or Scelsi's Action Music etc.


My top picks are:

De Falla Fantasia Baetica
Dutilleux Sonata for Piano
Ligeti Etude "Automne a Varsovie"
Rautavaara Six Etudes
Rzewski North American Ballad No. 4
Xenakis Mists

[mike_lang]

Corigliano Etude Fantasy is one of my alltime favorite pieces, but don't use it.  I've never seen someone use it in a competition or audition and go through to the next round.  Never.

Joyce Yang won the Cliburn Silver Medal with it.

Best,
ML

[ahinton]

It will by now be fairly obvious to you that not only the most interesting but by far the most comprehensive (and catholic!) selection of possibilities has been provided to you by "soliloquy" in this thread.

Inevitably, your question here is one of those to which adequate answer/s will by definition have to be thousands of times longer than the question itself, the available repertoire choices being as vast and varied as they are within the immensely wide parameter that you set. You do not say what kind of duration you are looking for here, although I presume you are talking about something of less than 30 minutes. I should slightly amend "soliloquy"'s suggestions about Sorabji, to the extent that Sorabji wrote very few works in the 1980s, although it is true that those that he did write at that time are relatively short (by his usual standards, that is); on that tack, if you are interested in considering other Sorabji works of well under half an hour's duration, then any of those featured on Donna Amato's Altarus CD (AIR-CD-9025) - which include some of what "soliloquy" was referring to as well as other pieces well worth exploring - might fit the bill. His last major work - Passeggiata Arlecchinesca (1981-82) - is a real case of a composer going out with a bang and is well worth the effort (the manuscript is almost unreadable, but fortunately there exists a handwritten edition by Donna Amato, who gave the work its world première). Then what about Carter's Sonata or Night Fantasies? - these are regarded almost as classics of 20th century piano repertoire now - and they're each perhaps surprisingly effective and skilful in pianistic terms, given that Carter, although he played the piano, was never a "pianist" per se. Well worth going for. Carter has much more recently composed a piano piece of some 10 minutes' duration entitled "Intermittences", premièred late last year by Peter Serkin (for whom I believe it was written); I've not yet heard it, but this could be a possibility too.

Best,

Alistair