Searching for a repetoire

[angierc]

 
Hi all,
 
  Lately I've been searching myself a piece to play in a concert, which is about 5 minutes long. Since I'd played a lot of romantic pieces, I'd love to play 20th century piece this time (preferably written not later than 1910). I've played repertoires such as Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso op 14, Brahms Rhapsody op 79 no 2, Chopin Scherzo no 2.

Thanks.  

[pianisten1989]

So you want to play something between 1900 and 1910?
Hmm, L'isle joyeuse is a nice piece...

[angierc]

thanks for the advice...
sorry i made a mistake, i mean not later than 1910...
but L'isle Joyeuse is a good one.. I'll think about it, thanks a lot..

[john11inc]

Well, considering the addendum regarding not being interested in works written past 1910, I assume you're looking for something a bit more accessible than. . . say. . . something from the 2nd Viennese School, for instance.  There's a lot of fairly accessible music that's been written more recently than 1910, although for someone who's mostly stuck to Romantic Era music, you might find yourself more comfortable with a Futurist piece?  There is a lot of great repertoire there; just surf youtube for the following composers:

Artur Lourie
Samuel Feinberg
Nicolai Roslavets
Alexander Mosolov
Leo Ornstein
Nikolay Obukhov (just to warn you: there are many alternate spellings of this composer's name)

There are plenty of others, like Stanchinsky, Eiges, Klein etc.  Just look around for "Futurist" composers.


I'd also recommend the following youtube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Hexameron
https://www.youtube.com/user/Wellesz
https://www.youtube.com/user/Bartje11

They tend to specialize in more accessible 20th/21st century works.  Hexameron and Turboturbante are probably the best for that sort of music.  There is a ton of it.  For specific pieces, perhaps a selection(s) from:

or

Carl Vine (Bagatelles) and William Bolcom (Rags) are more contemporary composers, but very Romantic, most of the time.  As well, I wouldn't want to discount Scriabin himself, who is often considered a sort of father to this type of music.  I don't know what your skill level is, but among the Etudes Op. 65, Preludes Op. 74 and Vers la Flamme, as well as some lesser-known pieces, there's a pretty wide variety in his late works.  Some of the Neoclassical composers are also worth looking into: Copland, Kabalevsky, Shostakovich, Ginastera etc.  Several of Shostakovich's Prelude and Fugues, and some of his short pieces, are extremely playable, as are many of Bartok's smaller works.  Prokofiev might be asking too much, as most of his shorter works happen to be very difficult, although a selection from his Visions Fugitives would be pretty doable.  Ginastera's Op. 2 is very commonly played, and might be your style.  Also, there is a lot of English music from that era that isn't especially hard on the ears.

I know.  A lot of stuff to look into, and really, that's just the tip of the iceberg; there is so much of this type of music.  But personally, I like the Lourie "Essore" or one of Shostakovich's/Ginastera's shorter works, if I had to be more specific.  Either way, you've got plenty to choose from!

Of the Neoclassical stuff (and I'm assuming you're not looking for something especially difficult, here) I'd recommend, either simply the Prelude or the Prelude and Fugue, of:

But like I said, there are a number of works from that set that you could almost certainly play pretty easily, especially if you were only looking at the preludes.  Shostakovich wrote some even easier pieces earlier in his career; with the exception of his two Sonatas, almost all of his piano output is actually extremely playable.

Regarding Impressionist composers, if it would be your first time playing works from that school, I wouldn't recommend taking a piece by Ravel or Debussy (particularly Debussy) into a concert hall; those composers are ones you want to have a decent amount of familiarity with, at the actual keyboard, before you try performing them, as it takes a very different touch and aesthetic sensibility to successfully interpret their works, unless you are just naturally inclined to it.  If you were dead-set on it, Debussy's early work, the Ballade, is quite beautiful, although a *bit* longer than five minutes.  A couple of his preludes from the first book aren't exactly the height of Impressionism (the Etudes even more-so, although the ones that you might not have trouble with interpreting are extremely difficult).  I'm not trying to pigeon-hole you into "easy" pieces, but I'd recommend:

I would recommend against L'Isle Joyeuse, personally.  It is very idiomatic and I would suggest more familiarity with Debussy before performing that piece.  If you want a more difficult piece by Debussy, perhaps:

His Arabesques are often considered good works for high-level students, and are completely acceptable for recitals.  So yeah, lots of stuff to think about.  Good luck!

[49410enrique]

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[rachfan]

I wouldn't rule out the Late Romantics.  Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Faure are obvious possibilities, but I'm thinking more obscure composers like Roslavets mentioned above by John11.  There is wonderful music by Sergei Bortkiewicz (Ukranian) and the Russian-born Georgy Catoire.  If you're unfamiliar with them, I recorded a lot of their music here at Piano Street. Their music has astonishing beauty, and something composed in the 1920s would sound little different than 1900.  

If you want to sample it, you can go to Audition Room.  At the top of the posting list is Index to Audition Room, click that.  The display of recordings that comes up is alphabetic by composer, so scroll down to Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) and Catoire (1861-1926) and you could sample them there.  Standard repertoire is OK, but sometimes audiences want to hear something different.  These pieces are old, but will strike the audience as being "brand new".  You might like Bortkiewicz's "Impromptu (Eros)", Op. 24, No. 3, (1922) about 5+ minutes, or his "Prelude", Op. 33, No. 8 (1926), 5 minutes, and Catoire's "Etude-fantastique", Op. 12, No. 4 (1901) 4+ minutes.