Transcribing for Piano

[comme_le_vent]

whilst i love the piano literature to death, there is so much great music not written for solo piano. my question is, how do you transcribe music for solo piano?
i realise it is important to have a great knowledge of the possibilities of piano writing, but do you guys have any particular methods or advice?

examples of what i would like to transcribe are -
john williams - Imperial March
chausson - Piano quintet
the beatles - michelle
orff - carmina burana

methods, advice...anyone?

[rachlisztchopin]

you need to know a lot of music theory, you need to know the piano's limits (since the orchestra has many more voices then the piano can take on), you need to especially know the instruments' range; for example if the piece has an oboe solo you wont want to use bass as the oboe...oboe's range around middle C usually (or one octave above middle C), and you must be able to make the piano sound like the instruments it is resembling as much as possilbe (a flute will be more dolce where as a snare will be more harsh (i dont know if thats the word but whatever)) I recommend you go to www.doverpublications.com and order a book called orchestration

by the way...i plan on transcribing dvoraks cello concertos to piano someday  

[liszt1022]

If you like having examples to refer to, I suggest buying a full score of any Beethoven symphony, and then a piano score of Liszt's transcription. Dover Publications publishes both versions. A good study of them should teach you all you'd ever need to know.
Generally though, remember you don't need to keep every voice in at all times, it's not a holy relic.

[schnabels_grandson]

I am by no means an expert on transcribing. That being said, I'll tell you how I go about it.  

1. I take the score that I will be transcribing into piano.  I condense all parts into bass and treble clefs, usually on manuscript paper.  Of course, as rachlisztchopin mentioned, you must take into account the original instrument's register and give it to the appropriate clef.  

2.   I then sit at the piano and work it out, get rid of unnessecary octaves and redundant notes etc..  I write the revisions on a new piece of manuscript paper.  I try to keep the composers thoughts as clear and accurate as possible in my renditions.