French Repertoires VS American Repertoires - Let's discuss

[classical pianist]

As many people can see... most students in france don't often play a work by american composer.. and students in the US rarely play french composer....

Works from a composer like Henri Dutilleux and Grabriel Faure are played by all pianists in france. eg Dutilleux's Sonata is played almost every month by the conservatoire's student.

[pita bread]

Students in the US play Ravel and Debussy all the time.

Randomly one of my best friends plays the Dutilleux Sonata.

[pianistimo]

i think it's a misnomer that the american idiom of jazz should not be included in standard repertoire by now.  i LOVE leroy anderson, gershwin, etc - and also there are many twentieth century composers (so it's not like there's not a selection to choose from) that were just as trained composers as the old european ones.  (come to think of it - anderson went to harvard - and gershwin -didn't he study at paris conservatory?)

barber, for instance (for modern twentieth century - non jazz).  if the french want a good composer - he is parallel, imo - to the talents of poulenc.  very very thoughtful and also a touch romantic.  the nocturne he composed is really unusual and challenging.

i couldn't even play the leroy anderson pc in my own country for school repertoire.  too jazzish, they said.  oh well.  i do what i like now.  forget what the restrictions are at the schools - and make your repertoire your own.

ps i love every french composer i've every played.  cecile chaminade ranks among the higher ones, too.

[ahinton]

ps i love every french composer i've every played.

What Messiaen have you played? I'd crack on with the 8 Préludes if you've not yet gotten into his work.

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

i haven't played any messian.  thanks for the suggestion!

my old college prof (excellent pianist) was french.  so i played saint-saens, faure (heard a lot of debussy), and on my own learned some of cecile chaminade's works.  they are lighter and not so much heavy recital pieces - but some things are cut because they are not 'difficult' enough.  i think that is sad because another side of difficulty is not just the notes but making a piece sound like it is part of you and your personality.  that you can express something through the piece.

i think after uni - students should definately start playing anything and everything that appeals to them. 

[mephisto]

What Messiaen have you played? I'd crack on with the 8 Préludes if you've not yet gotten into his work.

Best,

Alistair

Indeed they are great! But they are sadly rarely played, probably because they aren't as 'Messianic' as his later works.  I think my favourite is 'Chant d'exstase dans un paysage triste'.

[ahinton]

Indeed they are great! But they are sadly rarely played, probably because they aren't as 'Messianic' as his later works.  I think my favourite is 'Chant d'exstase dans un paysage triste'.

...Yes! - et Cloches d'angoisse et larmes d'adieu - wow! - and actually I think my favourite is all of them! Maturely "Messiaenic" they may not be, yet who else could posibly have composed them? I think that they are very underrated, even by some of Messiean's more fervent admirers. I remember struggling with them at the piano when a student at college years ago (an ostensibly silly thing for a non-pianist to do, one might argue), but my memories of this experience were as full of wonderment as they were of sheer practical frustration...

Best,

Alistair

[dnephi]

My favorite is Vingt Regardes.  I'd do #s 1 and 6, personally.