Modern piece suggestions

[pies]

I need something that is:
distinctively modern
catchy/not hard to swallow
ideally 4 min, though 3-5 is acceptable
moderately difficult

e.g. something like L'escalier du diable

Gracias.

[thalbergmad]

How about one of the Dusapin Etudes??

Not really my area of speciality, but even i can stomach some of them.

Thal

[jaypiano]

Ginastera "Suite de danzas criollas" (1946), movements 5-6 (segue)

Colin Matthews "Eleven Studies in Velocity" (1987), no. 11

Both guaranteed to have the audience on their feet.

[edvond]

Although it's not very new, look at the Shchedrin Basso Ostinato.

[pies]

How about one of the Dusapin Etudes??

Not really my area of speciality, but even i can stomach some of them.

Thal

I said moderately difficult.  Dusapin's etudes are crazy hard.

Ginastera "Suite de danzas criollas" (1946), movements 5-6 (segue)

Colin Matthews "Eleven Studies in Velocity" (1987), no. 11

Both guaranteed to have the audience on their feet.

The Matthews seems interesting, do you know where I can hear any samples?  Can't find anything online.

Although it's not very new, look at the Shchedrin Basso Ostinato.

Not really appealing to me.  Maybe it needs a few more listens.

Any other suggestions?

[pies]

No other suggestions?  I thought modernism was pretty big around here..

Looks like I'm going to do L'escalier du diable.

[retrouvailles]

I thought modernism was pretty big around here..

Haha, funny.

[jaypiano]

No idea where on the net one could find the Colin Matthews Etudes.  The score is published by Faber in London.
Don't overlook George Crumb's pieces that even the most resistive audiences end up adoring.  Not only the "Makrokosmos", a wealth of treasures, but the fantastic "Processional".

[thierry13]

No other suggestions?  I thought modernism was pretty big around here..

Looks like I'm going to do L'escalier du diable.

Wasn't l'escalier du diable a bit more than moderately difficult?

[pies]

a

[thalbergmad]

I said moderately difficult.  Dusapin's etudes are crazy hard.

Sorry, i mistook you for a pianistic genius.

Thal

[communist]

i would suggest you dont play modern music at all 

[healdie]

i would suggest you dont play modern music at all 

Why??

some of the most beutiful music ever written is modern i think it is very narrow minded of you to dismiss it all

have you heard evey modern piece?

[retrouvailles]

i would suggest you dont play modern music at all 

What is modern music to you? What is your definition?

[pies]

Please don't turn this into another modernism argument. 


Well, actually, go ahead.  I don't care.

[tanman]

Please don't turn this into another modernism argument. 

  

why don't you give Finnisey English Country Tunes a try? 

*runs

[tanman]

i would suggest you dont play modern music at all 

 

[tanman]

or what about Xenakis stuff? or Sorabji? 

[healdie]

did Sorabji write anything moderatly difficult and under 5 minites?

anyway Stravinsky wrote a piano sonata it sounds accesible enoguh but yet distinctly modern i don't how difficult it is or how good you are so you will have to be the judge of that

it is also quite short the outer movements are only 2 minites each and the 2nd movement is only 5 minites

[thalbergmad]

did Sorabji write anything moderatly difficult and under 5 minites?

"In the Hothouse" if you play it quickly.

[communist]

Why??

some of the most beutiful music ever written is modern i think it is very narrow minded of you to dismiss it all

have you heard evey modern piece?

i was kidding 

[healdie]

ah well i am, sorry i seem to have misinterpreted your comment  (feels slightly embarassed)

[retrouvailles]

did Sorabji write anything moderatly difficult and under 5 minites?

Some of his pastiches are 5 minutes or so, but I don't think they are moderately difficult. He also has many frammenti, but whether you think those are complete works or not is up for debate. He also has that small variation he wrote on Grieg's "Εse's Death", which is only like a minute, but it is rather difficult also.

[j.s. bach the 534th]

"In the Hothouse" if you play it quickly.

lol, I think he wants to play something at normal speed..

[indutrial]

Some suggestions:

Andrew Violette's Two Sonatinas (one or both)

Ursula Mamlok's Three Bagatelles (don't remember the exact length)

One of Roger Sessions' 5 pieces (they range from 2:30 - 4:00)

Some of Per Norgard's works for piano might be cool to check out, though they are not the easiest items to find recordings of. His op. 25b studies might make for some impressive performance material. Here's a link to his catalogue for piano at EWH:
https://en.ewh.dk/Default.aspx?TabId=2449&State_2955=3&ComposerID_2955=1141&CategoryID_2955=27

Not as modern as my other suggestions, but I'll almost always suggest Tansman's pieces, which are often polytonal enough to sound border-line dodecaphonic but simultaneously heavily accessible (to the audience and player) in terms of rhythm and melody. Any of his transcendental etudes (he wrote numerous), preludes, some of his mazurkas, one of the three sonatinas would be good performance material.

Any of the etudes by Grazyna Bacewicz are pretty bad-ass stage pieces.

If you can step it up a few minutes, you could bust out Edison Denisov's Variations, which is a really interesting atonal work with lots of rhythmic fun.

Maybe also look into American composer Allan Brings, who has many works available for free perusal at https://www.amc.net/composers/c_works.asp?ComposerID=17699&ActorID=33017 . I've little knowledge of his piano works but his composing style is solidly modern and he's contributed lots to American keyboard literature.

Aside from that, why not dig through the recent literature by Walter Hus (any of his prelude and fugue pairs are pretty stunning), Lera Auerbach (tons of works), Rzewski (tons and tons of works, maybe do a few "miles" from 'The Road'), John White (writer of 100+ short sonatas).

I would suggest all of these folks over a composer like Sorabji, though I do like his work also. The Ligeti piece you mentioned is cool as hell, but I feel like it's becoming one of those "required greatest hit" pieces that a lot of players choose more because of its notoriety and wow-factor and less because of its actual musical content. Don't get me wrong, I'm not labelling you with this criticism. I just feel like every modern-music-loving pianist I've met under 25 seems to feel like they have to do that piece and I'm like "man....why not one of the other studies?...it's not like they're not awesome or anything." That being said, I'm sure plenty of you have seen that corny video that some high school pianist made of him performing the Devil's Staircase. The performance was good, but his introduction to the performance was just plain goofy. He said something like "welcome to hell!" or some otherwise ludicrous bollocks.

[pies]

Where can I get a rec of the Violette?  I only have his sonatas. GFF? 

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I'm sort of settled on L'escalier, though.  I just need a piece with the wow-factor.  And Ligeti has a special place in my heart of hearts.

That "high-school kid" is actually a Juilliard student.  But I agree on the goofiness of the video, with the lame intro and odd/stupid effects.

[indutrial]

Where can I get a rec of the Violette?  I only have his sonatas. GFF? 

On this disc, first two tracks. This is also where the Mamlok is from.

https://www.amazon.com/Solo-Flights-Century-Works-Piano/dp/B000056BLF/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1223381698&sr=8-5

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I'm sort of settled on L'escalier, though.  I just need a piece with the wow-factor.  And Ligeti has a special place in my heart of hearts.

That "high-school kid" is actually a Juilliard student.  But I agree on the goofiness of the video, with the lame intro and odd/stupid effects.

I haven't seen it in a while. I just remember the intro, his clothing choice (I'm hoping that it wasn't some Kastle-type latter-day-Paganini s**t), and that it was recorded in an unusual locale, like a gym or something. To me, looked like a high-school TVP project. I could be mistaken. I'll watch it again sooner or later.

[thelastetude]

Philp Glass' Preludes are not hard, a bit catchy (repetitive if you like his minimalistic style), and haven't been played for a good while.

Szymanowski's Theme and Variations in Bb Minor is another suggestion.
Hindemith's Tonus Modalis (selections: F Minor is one of them) is another.

[pies]

L'escalier is a b­itch.  I've been overpracticing and now I have a slight pain in one of my wrist flexor muscles. 

[thalbergmad]

I have a slight pain in one of my wrist flexor muscles. 

Yeh, we know what causes that.

Thal

[pies]

Um, I have a girlfriend.


Actually I don't.

[jlh]

Rzewsky "Cottonwood Blues" from the ballades

 

[retrouvailles]

Rzewsky "Cottonwood Blues" from the ballades

 

I think you mean Rzewski's Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.

[jlh]

I think you mean Rzewski's Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.

Yes, you are correct.  Thanks!  It's ballade number 4 right?

[retrouvailles]

Yup. It is also the best in my opinion, with 3 not far behind.

[pies]

a

[0range]

You could look at some stuff by Ornstein. Not all of it is as unpalatable as his most famous outputs (Wild Men's Dance, Suicide on an Airplane, etc..).

My favorite of his is the Water Colour suite.

[indutrial]

You could look at some stuff by Ornstein. Not all of it is as unpalatable as his most famous outputs (Wild Men's Dance, Suicide on an Airplane, etc..).

My favorite of his is the Water Colour suite.

Very good call on the Ornstein suggestion. Talk about a career's worth of work that is largely untapped in the performance world. I was listening to some of the less-notorious stuff on his website and was way more impressed than I was when I heard things like the Wild Men's Dance.

What about some of Skalkottas 32 Piano Pieces? Those are all pretty excellent. He had a killer harmonic sensibility and some intense polyphonic chops, both of which make his works tricky but rewarding.

[gothamglory]

Check out Richard Danielpour.  You might want a piece that looks more familiar to you. 

[ahinton]

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