A Medium/low level piece to learn whilst learning these pieces.. suggestions.

[mjin1]

Hello. I hope this is the right board to post this in. I'll get to the point quickly.

As the topic suggests, I'm looking for a medium/low level piece to learn and sit down and be able to play, that has decent but not really demanding technical challenges. Something that's not too difficult to play at a student performance level with cold hands, since my house seems to be freezing all the time.

The reason I'm asking this board, is because I'm not a beginner pianist, and I figured you guys would know alot of pieces. Anyways, to give you an idea of the kind of piece I'm wanting, I'll tell you the main things I'm working on that perhaps will give you an idea of what to suggest.

I'm currently working alot on the friska of the second hungarian rhapsody, trying to really get an excellent performable speed while being really relaxed. I've been working on this for some time now.

I'm also working on the 13th rhapsody at a slower pace. I'm working on Mendelssohn's rondo capriccioso, I keep up chopin's revolutionary etude, and also quickly go over the sixth paganini etude, though not as much because I made a decent recording of it about a month ago so I'm trying to move onto more pieces. I also have been slowly working on feux follets, keeping that really slow for now.

I have a few other pieces that are at a considerably easier level than all of the above mentioned pieces I go over/work on, as well as my own compositions.

I know it sounds like I am working on alot, and I am, but do you guys have any ideas for a medium/low level pieces, lower level than the stuff I mentioned, that would be good to play? I'm looking for something medium level, that when you sit down to play it, doesn't have a huge technical demand for the character to be accomplished, but is still performable. Maybe I'm asking too much.

..

Anybody got any suggestions? Thanks, I greatly appreciate it, and I hope I posted this on the right board.

[stevebob]

You're not asking too much, but I think you provide too little information for one to make suggestions that are likely to be useful.  Innumerable pieces might fit the bill, after all, and what works for you will depend on your own musical tastes.  Perhaps you could narrow down what you're looking for by criteria like genre, style, mood, etc.

[mjin1]

I see. I apologize, I agree that I needed to be more specific.

Because the technical level of the piece seems to be important to this request, I'll start with that.


I am looking for a piece that's technical demands are not so great that the character can be accomplished without being super warmed up (maybe something without cadenza scales, rapid octaves, crazy fast thirds/fourths/fifths, etc). For instance, I am even ok with rhapsody 13's demanding clean tenths, because they sound acceptable slow, however, I obviously don't consider rhapsody 13 a medium low level piece due to the cadenza scales, and later, the repeated notes, rapid octaves, and rather uncomfortable jumps in keys that don't have alot of flats or sharps. Technically, the piece I am looking for can have strange things, just, I want to be able to accomplish the character without it being like " oh, he's just playing a difficult piece slowly." An example of what I wouldn't be looking for here would be the sixth paganini etude. Yes, of course you can sit down and easily play this work slowly. I'm uninterested in that type of suggestion.

I'd prefer the piece to be short, around 2 or 3 minutes, even 5 minutes at a performable speed.

And the genre, I'd prefer it to be a piece from the romantic period or later, really. I am already working on a well tempered klavier work, and my forte is not super legato non-pedal bach technique. I am better suited to easily learn romantic works.

So in short, I'd like the piece to be something just medium or a little fast tempo, the length just 2-3-5 minutes-ish, from the romantic period. The main thing is, I am interested in finding a work that you can sit down and play, and accomplish the right speed and character without having a ton of technical demands in the piece to tend to. but at the same time, I'd like it to be something performable. Again, this may be asking too much. I hope this was specific enough.

[kelly_kelly]

One piece that randomly comes to mind is "El Puerto" from Iberia by Albeniz... about 4 minutes long, lots of fun with a Spanish flavor, confusing texturally but not much fingerwork.

[aintgotnorhythm]

You might try various pieces by Einaudi or Glass. I know one critic likened the former to Billy Joel but if you're looking for a break from something more demanding, much of the piano music by either of these two lasts for just a few minutes and could suit your requirement.

[berman]

Liszt Un sospiro
Khachaturian Toccata

[ch101]

schumann scenes from childhood