The best 4-hands repertoire?

[pbryld]

I'm really into 4-hands compositions right now, but it's hard to find something that's really top notch.
Right now I'm playing the C-major sonata by Mozart (the only one that is really good IMO).

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

[awesom_o]

I'm really into 4-hands compositions right now, but it's hard to find something that's really top notch.
Thanks!

Try the Hebrides Overture by Mendelssohn, Mozart's 40th and 41st Symphonies, the Petite Suite by Debussy, the Mother Goose Suite by Ravel, and the Slavonic Dances by Dvorak, and the Moldau by Smetana! 

Absolutely top-notch music!

[awesom_o]

[thesixthsensemusic]

https://www.henle.de/de/suche/index.html?Besetzung=Tasteninstrumente&Instrument=Klavier+zu+vier+H%C3%A4nden

Quite a lot of 4-hands repertoire here, from the major piano composers. You'll be able to find all these works on www.imslp.org too.

[prestoconfuocco]

Faure's "Dolly" is very fun, and some movements can even be sight read at tempo.
There's a transcription of "In a persian market" for 4 hands which is quite nice.
Or maybe a Brahms hungarian dance.

[mjames]

Fantasie in F minor by Franz Schubert, hands down. Beautiful work.

[pbryld]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not just looking for 4-hands rep, but the best out there.

Awesom_o: Are any of those transcriptions by the composer?

[awesom_o]

The Mendelssohn, Respighi, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, and Smetana are all arranged/originally composed for four hands by the composers themselves, yes.

The Mozart Symphonies are arranged by someone else I believe, but the arrangements are very good. If you want original, Mozart wrote many fantastic Sonatas for Four Hands, as you well know.

The Mendelssohn, Respighi, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, and Smetana are all among the finest musical compositions in the entire repertoire. Beware though.... four hands playing at this level requires the utmost musical virtuosity from both the primo and secondo players!

You need a partner who is at the same level as you, and both you and your partner will have to be amazingly good to be able to pull off this kind of repertoire.

I also highly recommend the Grand Duo Sonata by Schubert. It is one of the largest and grandest original four hands works in the entire repertoire. Much, much harder and more beautiful than the F minor Fantasy.

[pbryld]

The Mendelssohn, Respighi, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, and Smetana are all arranged/originally composed for four hands by the composers themselves, yes.

The Mozart Symphonies are arranged by someone else I believe, but the arrangements are very good. If you want original, Mozart wrote many fantastic Sonatas for Four Hands, as you well know.

The Mendelssohn, Respighi, Dvorak, Debussy, Ravel, and Smetana are all among the finest musical compositions in the entire repertoire. Beware though.... four hands playing at this level requires the utmost musical virtuosity from both the primo and secondo players!

You need a partner who is at the same level as you, and both you and your partner will have to be amazingly good to be able to pull off this kind of repertoire.

I also highly recommend the Grand Duo Sonata by Schubert. It is one of the largest and grandest original four hands works in the entire repertoire. Much, much harder and more beautiful than the F minor Fantasy.

Thanks. Just listened to the Debussy. Very good indeed!

[awesom_o]

Check out the others as well!

The interesting thing is....many of these great works were actually originally composed as four-hands works before being later orchestrated.

That's what makes four hands so awesome and super original!!
 
Today I'm going to have the first rehearsal of the Pines of Rome! Definitely one of my all-time favourite works.

As a four-hands team member, you get to play half the orchestra all the time! It's crazy.

[pbryld]

Check out the others as well!

The interesting thing is....many of these great works were actually originally composed as four-hands works before being later orchestrated.

That's what makes four hands so awesome and super original!!
 
Today I'm going to have the first rehearsal of the Pines of Rome! Definitely one of my all-time favourite works.

As a four-hands team member, you get to play half the orchestra all the time! It's crazy.

I did check them out :-)

Good luck!

[maxy]

You may also want to try :

-Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps
-Holst's The Planets
-Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole

[nanabush]

Mendelssohn 'Andante and Variations'... incredible work.  The last variation/coda is a monstrosity though, as is the 5th Variation... a lot of work probably has to go into this piece, but it's well worth.

Ravel 'Ma Mère l'Oye' is awesome too.  A bit easier, but don't take it for granted.  This lets you really shape every single thing in the work without getting distracted by technical pitfalls.  The final movement is gorgeous, and a lot of fun for the Primo.

He also has the Rhapsodie Espagnole; I'm less familiar with the other movements, but the Féria is awesome.

Poulenc's Sonata is really good.

[awesom_o]

Ravel 'Ma Mère l'Oye' is awesome too.  A bit easier, but don't take it for granted. 

While there are certainly fewer notes to play in Mother Goose, compared to, say, a Mozart Symphony, there are some extremely advanced four-hands maneuvers that happen in the middle of the keyboard, when the primo and secondo parts overlap. Being able to provide elegant musical solutions to all of the invisible conundrums that this work offers is extremely challenging for any four hands team.

[cometear]

The Dvorak Slavonic Dances are really spectacular pieces. I'm working on #7 to start with right now. I would think they're a well reputable set of pieces.

[awesom_o]

I'm working on #7 to start with right now.

Fantastic! Who are you playing it with, and are you working on the primo part or the secondo?

[jimf]

I would also go with Dvorak's Slavonic Dances... Also the Fantasy on Porgy and Bess by Percy Grainger is a top-notch!  

And be sure to check here in imslp: https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Compositions_for_Piano_Four-Hands

[pbryld]

Great to see others are interested in this repertoire as well.

We 'finish' working on the Mozart this or next week, and after playing some of the pieces from the Liszt Christmas Tree set, we're going to take on the Debussy. My god that is a good work, although a tad old fashion for Debussy.

[cometear]

Fantastic! Who are you playing it with, and are you working on the primo part or the secondo?

I'm performing it with a friend of mine this December and I will be playing the Primo. What is your opinion on the piece?

[awesom_o]

It is a fantastic piece. Dvorak was a true classical master of extraordinary versatility. Six or eight months ago I gave this Dance to two of my students, brother and sister, about the same age as you. The boy is a little older. It was a bit beyond their ability as a team.

Four-hands playing is a real art. My girlfriend and I have only studied three of the sixteen Slavonic Dances closely. The other thirteen await us!

How have the rehearsals with your friend been going?

[cometear]

It is a fantastic piece. Dvorak was a true classical master of extraordinary versatility. Six or eight months ago I gave this Dance to two of my students, brother and sister, about the same age as you. The boy is a little older. It was a bit beyond their ability as a team.

Four-hands playing is a real art. My girlfriend and I have only studied three of the sixteen Slavonic Dances closely. The other thirteen await us!

How have the rehearsals with your friend been going?

The rehearsals have been going great I think! I feel like playing with another person really has me focus on not only my own part but on their part as well. I think it's improving my awareness as I have not had too much experienced with this type of playing.

[chicoscalco]

Ravel's La valse!! It is massive.
Lutoslawski's variations on a theme by paganini are awesome too, although, as La valse, very difficult... Argerich and Nelson freire have recorded them many times! Give them a listen

[awesom_o]

This week my girlfriend and I began working on Taneyev's arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony for four hands!

My goodness it's massive! It's been one of my favourite pieces for a long time and in high school I played it in symphony orchestra on the cello! Now I get to juggle that cello part with the basses and the low winds and brass as well!

Four hands is the best thing in the world for pianists!