character pieces

[tds]

ok, i am programming character pieces for my coming recitals, so far i have:

Suburbis                                                                     Mompou
   El carrer, el guitarrista I el vell cavall
   Gitana I
   Gitana II
   La cegueta
   L’home de l’aristo

Norwegian Dances Op. 35                                          Grieg
   Allegro marcato
   Allegretto tranquillo e grazioso
   Allegro moderato alla marcia
   Allegro molto

Arabesque Op. 18                                                       Schumann

Carnaval Op. 9                                                            Schumann
   Preambule
   Pierrot
   Arlequin
   Valse noble
   Eusebius
   Florestan
   Coquette
   Replique
   Sphinxes
   Papillons
   Lettres Dansantes
   Chiarina
   Chopin
   Estrella
   Reconaissance
   Pantalon et Colombine
   Valse Allemande
   Paganini
   Aveu
   Promenade
   Pause
   Marche des Davidsbundler
-----------------

i need one more set/cycle of character pieces (10-20 minute long). preferably the ones that are rarely played or even unknown. suggestion pls. tds

[quantum]

Alberto Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas

[tds]

Alberto Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas

even less known maybe?

[quantum]

Ann Southam: 
Glass Houses
Rivers (bk 1, 2 or 3)


Alexina Louie:
Music for Piano (cycle of 4 pieces)
Her piano writing is excellent, you may wish to check out her other works.  I've put some recs of her music in the audition room.


Josef Suk:
Things Lived & Dreamed, Op. 30, ten pieces for piano


Andre Jolivet:
Piano sonata #1

[communist]

Arensky 24 character pieces maybe but they are not that obscure

[Petter]

Gottschalk! hic.. . Fun blend of salon music and latin american rythms and melodies. 
https://se.youtube.com/watch?v=68L-4Np8gVo&feature

[Petter]

Alberto Ginastera - Danzas Argentinas

Opus 2 no. 2 is the most gorgeous piece ever!

[sharon_f]

Not obscure but either of the Prole do Bebê suites of Villa-Lobos.
Also not obscure and not necessarily character pieces in the strictest sense of the term but how about the Beethoven Op. 126 Bagatelles. They would balance the Romanticism of the rest of the program.

[tds]

Ann Southam: 
Glass Houses
Rivers (bk 1, 2 or 3)


Alexina Louie:
Music for Piano (cycle of 4 pieces)
Her piano writing is excellent, you may wish to check out her other works.  I've put some recs of her music in the audition room.


Josef Suk:
Things Lived & Dreamed, Op. 30, ten pieces for piano

where can i listen to these pieces ( for free, heh )? in the meantime, am downloading ur rec on audition room. will report when i am thru listening.

Arensky 24 character pieces maybe but they are not that obscure

i searched on youtube, but didn't find them. any suggestion where i can find them?

Gottschalk! hic.. . Fun blend of salon music and latin american rythms and melodies. 
https://se.youtube.com/watch?v=68L-4Np8gVo&feature

yes, gottschalk is fun. did he write cycle of character pieces? i got a cd of his solo piano music somewhere. but i think i'll pass for now.

Not obscure but either of the Prole do Bebê suites of Villa-Lobos.
Also not obscure and not necessarily character pieces in the strictest sense of the term but how about the Beethoven Op. 126 Bagatelles. They would balance the Romanticism of the rest of the program.

i think i know prole do babe. will look at it again. the beethoven suggestion is excellent!

[quantum]

where can i listen to these pieces ( for free, heh )? in the meantime, am downloading ur rec on audition room. will report when i am thru listening.

There are not many recordings I know of these pieces.  A lot of them I heard for the first time live in concert. 

In the Southam pieces, the character is created by the pattern.  Each piece would have a different pattern and a resulting character. 

Rezzpeectt:
https://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xuWXwCxitxs

There is growing appreciation of Alexina Louie now that more of her music has been included in the recent edition of the RCM syllabus. 

I heard the Suk during the world premiere of the entire cycle by one of my teachers.  Don't know anyone else who plays it. 

[Petter]

I found Glass Houses on naxoslibrary, you get a 15 minute free preview (or PM me, hint hint) and character piano pieces by the other composers too, but not just the ones Quantum mentioned. https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/recentadditions.asp

[mike_lang]

Why not some a Schubert sonata?  He includes so many different characters in these expansive forms of his.

[tds]

quantum, i listened to ur performance of louie's warrior ( may 26, 208 ). i like the piece, it sounds very eastern to my ear. ur performance was wonderful, too. piano and recording were also very good. i will keep an eye on louie from now on. thanks for introducing me to her music.

i am downloading music with slow internet connection so bear with me. hah. petter, i will pm you soon.

[tds]

Why not some a Schubert sonata?  He includes so many different characters in these expansive forms of his.

not exactly what i am after michael. thanks anyway

[burstroman]

Leo Ornstein has numerous sets of pieces.  Google his name, and you will find a website with his works for download.

[voxgabrieli]

even less known maybe?

What about Vladigueroff last works - op.66 "Cinq silhouettes" or 68 "Cinq tableaux poétiques"!? But they are under 10 minutes each...

[ahinton]

Not wishing to adverstise, but I have something entitled 7 character pieces (should perhaps be charcter studies) - 1. is called Doktor Busoni, 2. is a quasi-autobiographical piece arising from my earliest musical experiences, 3. is called Malvern Air and, whilst focusing centrally upon Elgar, concerns the idea of the composer's rôle as a conduit for ideas upon which not only Elgar but also Busoni and Schönberg speculated, 4. is an expansion of the very brief second movement of my own 5th piano sonata as if to imagine what might have happened had it been allowed full expression in that work, 5. is called Icarus Powellii and contrasts the ideas of flight and plantsmanship based around a particular experience of Jonathan Powell's work in a recording studio, 6. is entitled Étude for Elliott and is a tribute to Carter on his 95th birthday and 7. includes but is by no means limited to a kind of summation of what has gone before. The whole occupies some 45 minutes.

Best,

Alistair

[naturlaut]

I don’t know how obscure these are for your audiences, but here are my suggestions:

George Antheil – Valentine Waltzes

Aaron Copland – 4 Piano Blues

Gershwin – Earl Wild’s transcription: Seven Études on Gershwin melodies

Grieg – Holberg Suite, or Pictures from Folk Life

Jacques Ibert – Stories (Histoires), 10 of them in total, or The Encounters (Les Rencontres), 5 pieces in the set

Janacek – On an Overgrown Path, either Book 1 or Book 2.  Book 2 is probably less performed. 

Francisco Mignone – 2 Valsa de Esquina.  Another spin on Latino-American music.

Leo Ornstein – 9 Arabesques Op. 42

Howard Ferguson – 5 Bagatelles


Do you have to stick to playing one whole set?  I supposed you can take out movements that you like instead of playing the entire set.  Some of them weren’t even conceived as a set.

[tds]

Leo Ornstein has numerous sets of pieces.  Google his name, and you will find a website with his works for download.

i listened to several of his pieces, but i was not convinced.

[tds]

i have already set my character piece program for my recitals and 2nd cd:

Scenes d’enfants                                                        Mompou          (10’)
   Cris dans la rue
   Jeaux sur la plage I
   Jeu II
   Jeu III
   Jeunes filles au jardin

Suburbis                                                                      Mompou          (13’)
   El carrer, el guitarrista I el vell cavall
   Gitana I
   Gitana II
   La cegueta
   L’home de l’aristo

5 Concert Etudes, Op. 52, “Chinese”                          Tcherepnin       (18’)
   Shadow Play
   The lute
   Homage to China
   Punch and Judy
   Chant
                                        (intermission-in recitals)

Arabesque Op. 18                                                        Schumann       (6’)

Carnaval Op. 9                                                             Schumann       (28’)
   Preambule
   Pierrot
   Arlequin
   Valse noble
   Eusebius
   Florestan
   Coquette
   Replique
   Sphinxes
   Papillons
   Lettres Dansantes
   Chiarina
   Chopin
   Estrella
   Reconaissance
   Pantalon et Colombine
   Valse Allemande
   Paganini
   Aveu
   Promenade
   Pause
   Marche des Davidsbundler


and obviously it is not going to be the last time i give character piece programmed recital. so, keep suggestions coming, folks. they are much needed.

Not wishing to adverstise, but I have something entitled 7 character pieces (should perhaps be charcter studies) - 1. is called Doktor Busoni, 2. is a quasi-autobiographical piece arising from my earliest musical experiences, 3. is called Malvern Air and, whilst focusing centrally upon Elgar, concerns the idea of the composer's rôle as a conduit for ideas upon which not only Elgar but also Busoni and Schönberg speculated, 4. is an expansion of the very brief second movement of my own 5th piano sonata as if to imagine what might have happened had it been allowed full expression in that work, 5. is called Icarus Powellii and contrasts the ideas of flight and plantsmanship based around a particular experience of Jonathan Powell's work in a recording studio, 6. is entitled Étude for Elliott and is a tribute to Carter on his 95th birthday and 7. includes but is by no means limited to a kind of summation of what has gone before. The whole occupies some 45 minutes.

Best,

Alistair

alistair, you got me interested do you have the sheet music that i can have? the recording of them too?

I don’t know how obscure these are for your audiences, but here are my suggestions:

George Antheil – Valentine Waltzes

Aaron Copland – 4 Piano Blues

Gershwin – Earl Wild’s transcription: Seven Études on Gershwin melodies

Grieg – Holberg Suite, or Pictures from Folk Life

Jacques Ibert – Stories (Histoires), 10 of them in total, or The Encounters (Les Rencontres), 5 pieces in the set

Janacek – On an Overgrown Path, either Book 1 or Book 2.  Book 2 is probably less performed. 

Francisco Mignone – 2 Valsa de Esquina.  Another spin on Latino-American music.

Leo Ornstein – 9 Arabesques Op. 42

Howard Ferguson – 5 Bagatelles


Do you have to stick to playing one whole set?  I supposed you can take out movements that you like instead of playing the entire set.  Some of them weren’t even conceived as a set.

thanks for the info. i know several of them. but i just have to be reminded, u know. i will listen to the rest as soon as i have the time. cheers

What about Vladigueroff last works - op.66 "Cinq silhouettes" or 68 "Cinq tableaux poétiques"!? But they are under 10 minutes each...

thanks..will watch when i find time

[tds]

petter, the thing that you gave me in pm was a fantastic gift. i owe you one!

[ahinton]

alistair, you got me interested do you have the sheet music that i can have? the recording of them too?

I can supply the sheet music (though not in scanned form) but not a recording, I'm sorry to say.

If you want to know more, please write to me direct at sorabji-archive@lineone.net.

Best,

Alistair

[menancyandsam]

Stephen Heller wrote some outstanding character pieces.  Some can be found on you tube or downloaded from GFF.
op. 50 Scenes pastorales
op. 78 Spaziergange eines Einsamen
op. 79 Traumbilder
op. 80 Wanderstunden
op. 82 Blumen-Frucht und Dornenstucke
op. 86 In Walde

Many others but have never listen to them.

[tds]

Stephen Heller wrote some outstanding character pieces.  Some can be found on you tube or downloaded from GFF.
op. 50 Scenes pastorales
op. 78 Spaziergange eines Einsamen
op. 79 Traumbilder
op. 80 Wanderstunden
op. 82 Blumen-Frucht und Dornenstucke
op. 86 In Walde

i believe i played all of the above during my early training, (un)fortunately i dont remember a note of it . i liked burgmuller much better

[menancyandsam]

i believe i played all of the above during my early training, (un)fortunately i dont remember a note of it . i liked burgmuller much better

One day I wish to learn what you forgoten.  Which Burgmuller pieces do you perfer.  I would like to take a listen.

[tds]

op. 100, 109, 105

[tds]

thal, do you know any concert piece by burgmuller?

[pianisten1989]

Why no debussy-prelude?

[tds]

Why no debussy-prelude?

good suggestion. yes, there are many of them that i wanna play but i'll wait till i decide to learn the whole preludes, and that wont be anytime soon. can you think of shorter sets?