Best Underplayed Pieces?

[simonjp90]

Hi

I really need some lesser known works for a recital as all i have so far is Beethoven Chopin & Ravel. Not looking for big sonatas or anything, more sort of 5 - 10 minute pieces give or take. any really cracking obscure works out there?

[richard black]

I'll beat Thal to it and suggest any of Thalberg's transcriptions, especially those from 'L'art du chant appliqué au piano'.

And I'll add a personal favourite from the mid-20th century, the 'Fugue on a Fragment of Chopin' by Ronald Stevenson.

[thalbergmad]

Damned good suggestion sir.

The list of cracking obscure works in this time frame would probably be in excess of 20,000, but i am playing (trying) the March Marocaine by Leopold de Meyer at the moment. It was a hit with American audiences in the 1840's

Thal

[accauditor]

i love obscure repertoir

thalberg moise and sonata, those 2 pieces are of my favorite piano pieces ever
ruibke sonata
wolfl grand sonata in c (introduction, fugue and sonata)
martucci fantasia (forza destino)
wild pas de quatre
litolff concertos, they deserve to be in the standard repertoir period.
liadov, he wrote many great little piece that are underplayed
czerny fantasias and sonatas are really entertaining both to  play or listen to

that's what i can think of right now

[thalbergmad]

We seem to have very similar tastes my friend.

Thal

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Some excellent suggestions so far.

I'll beat Thal to it and suggest any of Thalberg's transcriptions, especially those from 'L'art du chant appliqué au piano'.

I'd suggest that the one on Casta diva works particularly well as your audience are guaranteed to know the original.

Adding a few more suggestions and trying to stay within 5-10 mins:

Tausig Das Geisterschiff (showy and not actually as difficult as it sounds)
Liapunov various from the Transcendental etudes; also his nocturne op. 8
Pabst Sleeping Beauty transcription

[lontano]

Hi

I really need some lesser known works for a recital as all i have so far is Beethoven Chopin & Ravel. Not looking for big sonatas or anything, more sort of 5 - 10 minute pieces give or take. any really cracking obscure works out there?

Wow, that didn't take long! I've been away for a few days, and it seems like everyone has absolute unknown favorites on the cuff! Well, I suppose I wouldn't be interested if I had none of my own.

But 1st off, all you have are BC&R, yet that implies you really must have knowledge of lesser-known works/composers. So I'll just hop in here and suggest a couple of shorter, less often played, more than unknown, works that come to mind.

Fred Rzewski has a ton of scores, both deliberately obscure, and some that are not too long and probably never recorded.

Nearly any one of Skalkottas wonderful explorations within his 32 piano pieces would be a decent audience pleaser. Some are more difficult than others, and are essentially (at least) atonal, but are so well constructed that one would hardly notice, well played. I have many of the scores, but can't play them, and I don't know if anyone plays them in recitals, where they really need to be heard!

Stepping South, maybe one of the many wonderful works by Villa-Lobos, or Ginastera. All too often only the immediately popular works of these giants of South American classical music infused with native influences are ever heard on most recitals, and there is a link with Ravel there, as his main interpreter frequently traveled between France and SA countries (sorry, his name escapes me, but he was close to Ravel for many years).

Obviously, there are far more obscure works/composers than there are "well known" ones. Probably on the order of 100,000 : 1 when you think about the size of IMSLP (growing rapidly). So that's all I'm offering today!

Good luck choosing!

[communist]

You could do some Liadov preludes or the ballade op.25. If you are looking for a Baroque piece I think you should play something by Johann Roman.

[imbetter]

Not totally obscure but some great works:
Bortkiewicz: Ballade
Alkan: Aesope's Feast op.39 no.10
Medtner: Sonata Tragica op.39 no.5

[naturlaut]

Literally tons and tons.  Since you already have Beethoven (Germanic), Chopin (mid-romantic) and Ravel (French), I shall try to suggest something different that falls between 5 to 10 minutes.

Jordi Cervello: Studio-Fantasia - 9 minutes, score published by Catalana d'Edicions Musicals

Godowsky: selections from Java Suite

George Antheil: selections from Valentine Waltzes

Manuel Blancafort: Nocturne No. 1 - 6 minutes, published by Boileau
Manuel Blancafort: Romance, Intermezzo and march.  10 minutes, published by Boileau

Blumenfeld: 4 Preludes, Op. 12.  8 minutes.

Falla: Serenata Andaluza.  6 minutes (if you play slowly...)

Grainger: transcription of Strauss Last Love Duet

Kapustin: Variations Op. 41.  7 minutes.

Leopoldo Miguez: Nocturno Op. 10.  6 minutes (if you take a slower tempo).  Score from IMSLP.

Stanchinsky: Sonata in Eb minor.  10 minutes (9 if you rush a bit).

Turina: Op. 2 No. 3 La Feria.  5 minutes.

Mageret Bonds: Troubled Waters.  5 minutes.

[edwardweiss]

 Select some pieces from 'Winterreigen' Op.13 by Dohnanyi. They are very well-written, pianistic, and nobody ever plays them apart from me and my cat Daisy. Better still work up the whole lot. Conservatory Professors probably won't approve-but the vast majority of them are neither musicians nor pianists. Also my old chestnut 'Three Piano Pieces' by Klement Slavicky-any of these certainly makes the audience sit up. However I find that cats tend to run outside during the noisy Toccata.

[andrewjohnd]

The Saint Saens Toccata d'apres la 5e concerto of his Op 111 etudes is very effective and seldom played.