New music

[pianista]

Hello!
new music search...for piano-solo duration 7 min around, max 10 min.
Could you recommend any new music repertoire for piano-solo, very interesting contents both musically and technically ( not complicated though)-but impressiv music to listen?

[bernhard]

How new?

The list is endless . Can you set any boundaries? It will help.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[pianista]

well, piano-solo pieces , duartion like 6-9 min. Proposals, and how or where I can find the score please... Thanks!

[comme_le_vent]

lol...good luck bernhard.......  

[bernhard]

Er…

I will give it another try.

Since there are about 7565234927843577134209 piano solo pieces lasting 6 – 9 minutes, it would help if you could limit a bit more your sampling space.

For instance:


1.      Period (baroque – classical – modern – contemporary)
2.      Style (lyric – fast – virtuoso pieces – harmonic – counterpoint – serial – minimalist – etc.)
3.      Degree of difficulty (beginner – intermediate – advanced)
4.      Scale (major/minor – modal – pentatonic – jazz – blues – pop – etc.)
5.      Purpose (Recital – own pleasure – impress girlfriend/boyfriend)
6.      Personal taste
7.      Other.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[pianista]

Modern style-new music, yes. Advanced level. Contents both musically and technically but not TOO complicated. Like William Schuman style-you know that pieces? Impress...hmmm , well,  seriously, could be suitable for competition and recitals.  

[bernhard]

Most of these pieces are by less known composers or less known works of well known composers (which I gather is what you are after). Almost all of them are by 20th century composers. All of them sound more difficult than they actually are. None of them is too advanced technically (most if not all of them are around grade 8 or a little above).

Samuel Adler – The road to Terpsichore – A suite of five dances. Although the individual dances may be short, if you play the whole suite as a cycle it will fit your time schedule.

Andre Ameller – Montreal  - A slow, impressionistic prelude.

Samuel Barber – Nocturne. Beautiful lyrical piece modelled after Chopin/Field’s Nocturnes, but with modern harmonies and colours.

Arnold Bax – Nocturne (May night in the Ukraine) – romantic and poetic writing.

Georges Auric – Sonatine – His music is influenced by Satie’s and similar to Poulenc’s. You can also try his “3 Impromptus” which may be shorter than what you wanted, but then again if you play them as a set they will fit the bill.

Aaron Copland – Passacaglia – Piano variations – Night thoughts (Homage to Ives), all between 6 and 10 minutes.

Cesar Cui – Prelude no. 22 in D minor (Lento)

Basilio Itibere – “A Sertaneja” (The Country Girl) – Brazilian rhythms and a catchy tune. This is however 19th century romantic music in the tradition of Gotschalk who was a big hit with Brazilian composers of the time.

Norman dello Joio – Suite for piano – set of four pieces that must be played as a whole the fourtnh movement (“Fast with ferocity”) is particularly impressive.

Salute to Scarlatti – A work in four parts (which can be played together or separately), each movement mimicking a typical Scarlatti sonata (crossing of hands, guitar imitations, etc.), yet with modern harmonies.

Ernst von Dohnanyi – Intermezzo in F minor Op. 2 no. 3 – Rich romantic harmonies slightly reminiscent of Brahms.

Ludovico Einaudi – “I Giorni” – “Canzone Africana IV” – “Sotta vento” - Pleasant minimalist composer threading a very fine line between classical and popular. Beautiful, easy melodies in technically unchallenging music.

Manuel de Falla – Nocturno – Romantic work with an arpeggiated left hand accompaniment.

Lorenzo Fernandez – Brazilian suite no. 1(Old song – Lullaby – Serenade). Brazilian suite no. 2 (Prelude – Song – Dance), Brazilian suite no. 3 (Song – Serenade – Negro dance). Although each movement for each suite is published separately, each works best as a complete work. Tonal writing, with distinctive Brazilian rhythms.

Luciano Gallet – Nho Chico – A highly effective suite in four movements written mostly in tonal music but with strong rhythm patterns (Gallet is a Brazilian composer) and rich unusual harmonies.

Phillip Glass – Metamorphosis One, Metamorphosis Two,  Metamorphosis Three,  Metamorphosis Four, all lasting between 5: 30 and 7: 30 minutes. Try also Mad Rush (a bit longer around 14 minutes) and Wichita Sutra vortex (6 minutes). Minimalist music.

John Ireland – “Chelsea Reach” – “The palm and May” – Lyrical, melancholic writing with modern harmonies and colours.

Paulo Libanio – Sonatina – Libanio is another Brazilian composer who writes in a much more modern (and less nationalistic) idiom. His sonatina is on the verge of tonality but is not as fluid and indeterminate as, say, Messiaen. Lush harmonies and the influence of jazz and Bossa Nova can be found if you listen close enough.

Olivier Messiaen – Vingt regards sur L’enfant Jesus. Played as a whole it well exceed 40 minutes. However you may select only some of the movements (the easier ones are 2, 7 and 9). In it Messiaen puts forward his thoughts on Jesus.

Ernst John Moeran – “Rune” – “Theme and variations” – Wistful, lyric music with an Irish background.

Douglas Moore – Suite for piano: Prelude – Reel – Dancing School – Barn dance – Air - Procession. Although the six dance movements are published separately, it works best as a single work.

Sigismond Neukomm – “O Amor Brasileiro” (“Brazilian love”)– In spite of its name Neukomm (1778 – 1858) presents here a theme & variations that is completely classical  European with hints of Haydn, and Mozart. He seems to be the first European composer to use a theme taken form Brazilian folk music. A curiosity (but nice). Neukomm was the music teacher of the Portuguese born Emperor of Brasil, D. Pedro I.

Zbigniew Preisner – “Talking to myself” – “Meditation” – “Greetings from Pamalican” (all the three pieces from “Ten easy pieces for piano” – they are not that easy…)

Jan Raats – Toccatta – Virtuosic with repeated fortissimo chords and glissandi. Excellent for performance.

Nikolas Rakov – Classical suite (Prelude, menuet, gavotte, air, gigue). Tonal work but with modern harmonies based on the baroque suite structure.

Joaquin Rodrigo – Sonada de Adios – Lyrical, melancholic romantic piece.

Claudio Santoro – Sonatina no. 2 – Strong rhythms and lots of energy. Santoro is a Brazilian composer who is famous for his unusual compositions.

Erik Satie – Sonatine bureaucratique – This work makes fun of Clementi’s sonatina in C, Op. 36 no. 1. If the audience is knowledgeable can be quite fun to play.

Heitor Villa-lobos – Cirandinhas – a set of 12 short pieces based on Brazilian Nursery rhymes. Play as a cycle and they will be over 30 minutes long. However you may select a group of them (the last one, no. 12 – “Her beautiful eyes” is around 6 minutes). They are wonderfully rhythmic and some very lyrical. Much easier to play than they sound. Also his “Cirandas” which are a similar set of 16 pieces, but much much more difficult. Some of them (“The clove quarrelled with the rose”) are true virtuoso stuff. The whole set takes 40  minutes, each piece around 2 minutes. Finally, equally advanced is “A prole do bebê” (The Baby’s family), a set of 8 pieces describing eight different dolls, taking in all about 15 minutes.

Since most of these pieces are recent, with active copyrights, you will find difficult to get them freely and legally on the internet . But you can always try your luck here:

https://www.pianopassion.com/guideev.htm

And of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Enjoy!

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[comme_le_vent]

whoa  
did you type all that out?!

oh, and what kind of pieces would impress a girlfriend(or boyfriend )
or even possibly attract a girlfriend?
i tried once to impress a girl by playing bach's complete well tempered clavier - she begged for me to stop, saying that if i did stop - shed let me have my way with her - i stopped, and she laughed and told me that she was lying, i began to pipe with fury and i sank my vampire fangs into her sweet womanhood - this has led me to believe it is impossible to impress girls with piano playing.

please convince me other wise  

[nujdp]

hi commelevent,

...a piece to attract girlfriends?  

I have really good:) experience with "Rachs Prelude Op 32 Nr5 in g."  . Wmn love it....  and its really nice to learn...  

good luck with this:)

[pianista]

Wow, Thanks a lot Bernhard! I am really impressed how you actually spend so much time to write so much Where did you get all this information ?
May I ask, how old are you? and how many hours do you spend time front of the computer?
I am just astonished with your kindness. Well, now it is my turn looking for a suitable piece-there are huge of good pianopieces-but have you played any of them yourself, and possible could recommend one or two?
Cheers.

[Hmoll]

Bernhard,
Good job writing all that out.
One question: Who do you know who can play Vingt Regards in 40 minutes?

[olivet]

there is a new book by Turetsky.  It's intermediate level music, ie NYSSMA 3, and in it is a Suite called Leonora, Interlude and Leonora part 2.  All together it's around 7 minutes.

The pieces aren't too difficult, but they sound cool.  My students and my colleagues students really enjoy them.  Unfortunately, the publisher's website is not complete yet, but if you want more info, email me at 88fingerslouie@mail.com

[bernhard]

whoa  
did you type all that out?!

Actually I used my magical powers to make it all appear on the screen with no effort on my part.

oh, and what kind of pieces would impress a girlfriend(or boyfriend  )
or even possibly attract a girlfriend? i tried once to impress a girl by playing bach's complete well tempered clavier - she begged for me to stop, saying that if i did stop - shed let me have my way with her - i stopped, and she laughed and told me that she was lying, i began to pipe with fury and i sank my vampire fangs into her sweet womanhood - this has led me to believe it is impossible to impress girls with piano playing.

please convince me other wise  

I am afraid my experience is similar to yours. I was lured to endless hours of practice thanks to some false promise that if I really played well women would be at my feet. A fat bank account and an expensive car are far surer ways. And if you think I’m cynical, try this site:

https://www.intellectualwh*res.com/

(Replace the * by the letter o. I have to do it this way otherwise the word gets automatically censored).

Also historically the evidence is not hopeful:

Chopin: All he could get was a woman called George.

Brahms: never married. He was in love with Clara Schumann, but since she played the piano better than he did, it is more likely that he was the one impressed with the piano playing.

Schumann: Tried to impress Clara with his piano playing, but again she palyed better than he did. His father in law was not impressed at all. Went crazy.

Tchaikovsky: He managed t impress a woman with his piano playing. Ended up marrying her. She went nuts, he commited suicide.

Hans Von Bulow: His wife (daughter of Liszt – and probably immune to pianist skills) run away with

Wagner who could not play the piano.

Beethoven: Never got married in spite of dedicating al those pieces to the ladies.

Haydn: got married, but his wife couldn’t care less for music.

Percy Grainger: We all know about this one.

JS Bach: perhaps the only one who actually succeed in impressing not one but two babes into marrying him. So it surprised me greatly that you failed exactly with the WTC, that proven musical aphrodisiac.

Actually there is Lizst as well. But was it his piano playing, or his good looks?

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Wow, Thanks a lot Bernhard! I am really impressed how you actually spend so much time to write so much Where did you get all this information ?

Er… a lifetime of study and research?

May I ask, how old are you? and how many hours do you spend time front of the computer?

You may ask.  

Not that much time. I type fast and I use DVORAK (not the composer, the alternative keyboard).

Yes, in my youth I played some of them.

If I had to choose just a couple of the above I would go for Villa lobos and Lorenzo Fernandez. But this is my peculiar taste. Once upon a time I was really into atonal dissonant music. Now I completely lost the taste for it. These days I am obsessed with Bach, Scarlati and Schumann. So what I may like you may abhor. They are all good quality music though.

Probably the best advice I could give to you at this point is to try to listen to recordings of them. Most are available on CD (although this is not really mainstream repertory so you have to look for them – Naxos is a good starting point). Try a Google search on each composer. Maybe you will find MP3 or midi of these pieces on the net.

Let us know your favourites.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Bernhard,
Good job writing all that out.
One question: Who do you know who can play Vingt Regards in 40 minutes?

Well done Hmoll. Over 2650 members in this forum and you spotted it straight away! At least someone is alert! You are right. More like 120 minutes. I guess age is catching up with me. (Then again I was typing this at 1:00 am).

Have you ever played it? Most of the time I can’t bear it. I need to be in a very peculiar state to get into it. This is really atmospheric music and I am not sure I like the kind of inner state it requires to be appreciated. (Here is an interesting story: I have a friend who is a classical guitarist. He went to relax in a hot water tub while listening to Messiaen – It was some orchestral work – not Vingt regards – He told me later that after half an hour of it he experienced death. He could barely muster enough strength to get out of the bath tub. He said that he sunk to some unnamed depths of the psyche [his words], from which he was pulled by his wife coming into the bathroom, switching off the CD player and urging him to get ready or they would get late for some appointment).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[comme_le_vent]

yes, thats all fine....but you seem to have avoided the question how old you are, a little embarrased are we? to be amongst all these teenagers?  

[bernhard]

Totally.

[Pam_Dunlap]

Dear Bernhard,

Obviously, you're well past your impressionable teens   and I believe that everyone involved in this wonderful forum is truly grateful for that!  Your time-earned wisdom shows, and the fact that you make the effort to SHARE that wisdom (and in such great detail, WOW!!!) is one of the best things about this forum. You have (so far!) provoked me into an in-depth analyzation of my practice techniques, inspired me to get those Chopin Ballades back off the shelf, made me want to strike terror into the hearts of my students (just kidding!) and led me to laugh my a$$ off! And hey - I've only been a part of this forum for a couple of DAYS!

This forum is a delight, and you are one of its treasures. Thank-you so much for your time, your amazing kindness, and your wonderful (and yes, time-earned) wisdom!

We love you!
Newby Pam

[pianista]

still looking for the right pieces...I like some of Messaien though,  and Villa-lobos......the list is very long.  

[bernhard]

Dear Bernhard,

This forum is a delight, and you are one of its treasures. Thank-you so much for your time, your amazing kindness, and your wonderful (and yes, time-earned) wisdom!

We love you!
Newby Pam

Thank you .

You are welcome

[minsmusic]

Let's start a new thread GUESS HOW OLD BERNHARD IS, and if anyone gets it right, he HAS to say which one


I'll go first.  I'm 33 and he's TWICE as knowledgable than me, so I say 66!!!!!

Now you have to say if I've insulted or complimented you.

(we could probably in respond in the 'Dear Bernhard' thread instead of hijacking this one)

[minsmusic]

The 'Dear Bernhard' thread can be found in the TEACHER'S FORUM

[scriabinsmyman]

A piece to impress/attract women?  Oh, you boys are funny.  I think the only kind of women you could attract w/ your classical piano skills are women like me- classical music freaks.  Otherwise, stick to the pop songs and such.  Oh, and pieces where you move your fingers really fast (I swear, some non-pianists gawk when I play a scale...) Most important thing is to make sure you don't look like you're trying to impress someone!

[chopiabin]

I was working on the Chopin's op.25, #12, and my mom said, "Just practicing your scales?".

[chopiabin]

By the way, Chopin's nocturne op.48#1 is an amzing piece of music that last between 5 and 7 minutes.