New Piano Concerto

[brodmann96]

Hey there, I am going to be auditioning to play a concerto with an orchestra this coming November. I need to start working on a concerto piece soon but I am stuck between these two having narrowed my choices down until now. Please vote which you think I should do. Also, please state your opinions on each piece, for example, which you like better, which is a better performance piece, which is more difficult technically/musically, things to consider in my decision, etc.

[lorditachijr]

I'm not saying either are bad choices, but are you wholly against using their respective first movements? I know the Tchaikovsky's is rather lengthy, but I really do like it better than any other movement in either piece. These are two such different pieces, I think it really depends on what you like. I myself prefer the Tchaikovsky, but someone else might like the Grieg better. The Tchaikovsky is probably the harder of the two (I've never even played through the Grieg though, so this may not be true). The Tchaikovsky would also probably have a better effect on the audience considering that the Grieg's harmonies are less, hmmm, typical (I was trying to think of a good word to use there  ). What does your teacher think about it? He/she could probably tell you more than any of us.

[brodmann96]

Well, no I am not against using the first movements...its that it just so happens that i narrowed it down to these two pieces, and they happen to both be the third movements, but yeah I have a feeling that the tchai will definitely be received better by the crowd, but i have a feeling that the grieg will be more fun to play as it is both longer and looks harder. Btw, speaking of difficulty, I looked at both scores of both pieces and it seems that the tchai is easier than the grieg although the general opinion is that the tchai is harder? Is it due to the awkward key signature of the tchaikovsky? I know that the grieg is in a minor so there are no sharps or flats whereas the former has a number of flats in the key sig

[brodmann96]

bump

[thalbergmad]

I dislike single movements like this. I don't think it does the work justice.

Why not pick a shorter work and play the whole thing??

Thal

[ahinton]

I dislike single movements like this. I don't think it does the work justice.

Why not pick a shorter work and play the whole thing??

Very wise advice, if I may say so!

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Unusual event

[ahinton]

Unusual event

If only the performance of any movement from Grieg's piano concerto were actually that...

Best,

Alistair

[brodmann96]

I dislike single movements like this. I don't think it does the work justice.

Why not pick a shorter work and play the whole thing??

Thal

Believe me...I would if I could. However, the performance of an entire concerto is not a possibility for me no matter what the length. Time is not the issue I have

[brodmann96]

Anything else?

[thorn]

I feel I'm sort of missing the point.

Why would you not want to play the entire concerto? You say time/length is not the issue, then what is? If you don't have the technique or patience to do justice to the whole thing, then I would question if you are really ready to learn one.
 

[keyboardkat]

Rather than one movement of a larger work, why not learn one of those wonderful one-movement works for  piano & orchestra, like the Franck Symphonic Variations, or the Tschaikovsky Third Concerto, or the beautiful Rimsky-Korsakoff concerto (the latter has some mean octave passages, though.  There's a whole page of fast octaves with leaps near the beginning, and the finale has another long section of octaves, some of which are filled in with chords).

[brodmann96]

Believe me...I would if I could. However, the performance of an entire concerto is not a possibility for me no matter what the length. Time is not the issue I have

The program that I am in, the one that allows me a chance to perform with a professional orchestra, limits me to perform only one movement of any piece I want. The main restriction, however, is to 1 movement

[olsensti]

I would play a one movement concerto, like the Liszts or Korsakov