Schubert

[lorditachijr]

Well auditions for this year are about to come around, and I've gotten my pieces chosen: Chopin's 1st Ballade, Op. 23, Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 26 and the first of Bartok's Two Roumanian Dances, Op. 8a (and doing Mendelssohn's G Minor Concerto for a concerto audition). I have been working on the Chopin since the beginning of the summer, so it's pretty much ready to go, and I've been working on Mendelssohn since September. I just started the other two solo pieces a few weeks ago, so they still need a lot of work. As playing the same four pieces for several months can become a little tiresome, my teacher and I decided to also work on some Schubert. My only Schubert experience so far has been Op. 142, No.2, which I played in a competition several years ago. My teacher wants me to do one more impromptu (probably the first or last from Op. 142) and then a sonata.

Here is my question for you: which do you like better between Op. 142 Nos. 1 and 4? I feel like the first would be harder in terms of voicing and musicality due to it having a larger form (at least in my opinion), but the fourth is obviously requires more finger skills. I'm also considering playing them both and Op. 142 No. 3 to complete the set (which many consider to be a single sonata anyway). Schubert is one of my favorite composers, and I definitely want to delve further into his works. I'm not really worried about technique, so I just want your opinion of the Impromptus as pieces of music. If I decide to play the whole set, I might be doing that in a competition this summer, so that's also something to consider. If I don't play the whole set, then it'll just be the Ballade and either the Beethoven or the Bartok in the competition. Please tell me what you think!

Many thanks,
John

[prongated]

The first impromptu in that set is an amazing work of art - full of poetry, peppered with a zest of that Viennese style. I guess that style is the other major difficulty with this work, along with that sound control/technique that is required, as you mentioned.

It is absolutely my favourite in the set! The following post has a beautiful description of it;

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=26454.msg302549#msg302549

The 4th is also tricky in terms of dealing with this Viennese style - light, but not dry! And those aren't just scales - they should flow sensitively to the harmonic changes and the rises and falls. So many people play them like they're Czerny exercises, which I find is one of the most frustrating things one can listen to.

By the way, the recordings posted in that thread are beautiful, and truly worth listening to! (And should you come across it, disregard what I wrote in that thread - don't know what I was smoking when I wrote that!)