Orchestral piano

[bleicher]

I've just come home from a weekend playing piano and celeste in Shostakovich 5 with a very good amateur orchestra, and I had a brilliant time. Now all I need to do is persuade the committee to programme other pieces with good orchestral piano parts. Have any of you played piano in a symphony orchestra, and do you have any favourite piano parts?

[mike_lang]

I've just come home from a weekend playing piano and celeste in Shostakovich 5 with a very good amateur orchestra, and I had a brilliant time. Now all I need to do is persuade the committee to programme other pieces with good orchestral piano parts. Have any of you played piano in a symphony orchestra, and do you have any favourite piano parts?

Hi there:

I hold the orchestral piano fellowship with a music festival in Colorado, so needless to say, I think it is a wonderfully good time!  Shosty 5 was one of the first parts that I played, which was very fun, but slightly tricky to get used to, given the fact that the basses were doubling me from across the stage.  Hard not to go out to lunch during those A's at the end of the finale!

I think two of the coolest parts I've played were Messiaen's "Couleurs de la Cité Céleste" (pf) and Schnittke's first Concerto Grosso (prepared pf, harpsichord).  I'm looking forward to find out what is programmed in Aspen this next summer!

I'm not sure about convincing the committee for programming choices, but perhaps you could just make yourself aware of what repertoire has piano parts?  The standard reference is David Daniels' "Orchestral Music."

In the mean time, I'm here to share experiences and ask/answer questions :-)

Cheers,
Mike

[bleicher]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the 'Orchestral Music' recommendation: it looks like a great reference work and I hadn't come across it before. I love Couleurs de la Cité Céleste but aren't familiar with the Schnittke. I've played a prepared piano quite a few times because I play in a contemporary music group but I've never played harpsichord.

Any other orchestral pianists on here?

Natalie

[jalexh]

Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements has good piano parts in the first and third movements.

[cmg]

Not nearly the experience of Mr. Langlois, but I did do a stint in the Saint-Saens "Third" symphony.  The Scherzo is a Hanon-fest of scale runs and the in last movement I was joined with a piano partner for the rippling accompaniment under the main theme.  Actually, tons of fun.

[mike_lang]

Also, in case you are not already aware, but Shostakovich 1, Appalachian Spring, and Stravinsky's Petrushka have very cool parts (often used as orchestral piano audition excerpts).

[bleicher]

I knew about the Copland and Stravinsky but not about Shost 1 - will look it up!

[yodaofpiano]

Hi! Pines of Rome has a fabulous celeste and piano part, imo! something that you really ought to try out if you like the whole piano-in-an-orchestra arrangement

[retrouvailles]

Going a bit more modern, Louis Andriessen's works for ensemble and orchestra have very involved piano parts, given that a large part of his compositional lineage comes from Stravinsky, another composer who wrote good piano parts in orchestral works. Shostakovich also wrote some good ones, especially in the first and fifth symphonies (mentioned earlier).

I am a pianist in a wind ensemble right now, and I have been waiting for a piano part like the ones I have mentioned. I've had a few good ones, but nothing mind-blowing.