Recital Repetoire

[Joseph_Hoffman]

Hello All,

I havn't posted here for a while.

I was just wondering if you could give me your thoughts on a recital programme.  I need to come up with a reasonably 'popular' recital programme for a recital. The audience will consist of 'uneducated' people (Ah, my elitisim showing through again;). Thus, I want to come up with a programme that contains some reasonably easy to comprehend works. This is a bit tricky for me a I have specialised in Scriabin through to Stockhausen for the last few years and I am not really sure how much a non classically trained audience can take. I also want to programme a set that is not too taxing for me to play as I don't really want the stress of a programme in which the easiest work is Islamey!

Thus,

Couperin: Les Barricades Mysterieuses (Sentimental reasons for this one)

Mozart: Sonata in C Major K. 309

Beethoven: Andante Favori WoO 57

Schumann: Fantasiestucke op. 12, no. 2
                  Kinderszenen, von fremden ländern und menschen

Rachmaninoff: Elegie op. 3, no. 1
                       Prelude op. 32, no. 10

<INTERVAL>

Chopin: Ballade no. 3, op. 47
             Mazurka op. 6, no. 1
             Mazurka op. 17, no. 4
             Nocturne op. 48, no. 1

Scriabin: Etude op. 2, no. 1
              Poeme op. 32, no. 2

Liszt: Trancendental Etude no. 1 - Preludio
          Liebestraum no. 3 (Yeah, Yeah I know...corney!)

(ENCORES)
Rachmaninoff Preludue op. 25, no. 5
Flight of the Bumblebee transcription.

Is it too corney?
I could always throw in Stockhausen Klavierstucke IX or Scriabin Sonata no. 7 but I don't think the blue wrinse brigade will like it

[Motrax]

Perhaps it's a little bit long? You frequently stress that your audience probably isn't used to sitting through a classical recital, so you may want to cut a few pieces altogether. The first thing I notice is that you play Rachmaninoff's elengy and B minor prelude one right after the other... this is very heavy programming, as both pieces are rather deep and sorrowful. Furthermore, you'd be leaving people during the intermission with those two pieces to ponder.

I'm not sure which pieces are your favorites, so I won't suggest a different program, but just keep in mind when you play what you play, so you don't have 10 minutes of lento melodies, which may be very tiring (or boring) for the listeners.

Flight of the Bumblebee is a great encore, I'm learning it now for that same purpose. The 5th prelude is also very good for this purpose - I've found that a lot of people unfamiliar with classical tend to enjoy this piece a lot.

Good luck!

Motrax