Massive Piano Pieces

[lisztmusicfan]

Hello all,
I'm looking for some bigger pieces that were written by lesser known composers (massive being compared to Chopin's Ballades or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies). This can mean massive in technical difficulty, long in length, or abounding with beauty! I just need some lesser-known, bigger pieces!

Thanks so much,
Logan

[perprocrastinate]

Sorabji!

But if you really want other specific examples:

- Alkan, Concerto for Solo Piano
- Alkan, Symphony for Solo Piano
- Alkan, Grande Sonate (Les quatre ages)
- Busoni, Piano Concerto
- Rzewski, Variations on "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!"
- Ives, Piano Sonata No. 2 (Concord)
- Godowsky, Sonata
- Godowsky, Passacaglia on Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
- Godowsky, 52 (?) Studies on Chopin's Etudes (if you count cycles)
- Rubinstein (Anton), Piano Concerto No. 4

[stravinskylover]

Tausig's Fantasia on Moniuszko's "Halka" is one of my all time favorite pieces, and it is ridiculously hard. It is ~13 minutes, so it is slightly longer than some of the longer Ballades/ Hungarian Rhapsodies.

[alpacinator1]

- Alkan, Concerto for Solo Piano

The difficulty of this is absolutely terrifying.

[visitor]

Freakin fantastic étude . Most will address a single technical puzzle or exploit one type of difficulty . This étude is huge and all over the place with what it asks of the performer. It is on my bucket list as Viktor is one of my all time top favorite of all composers. The piece is stunning and stir your soul beautiful

[j_menz]

So longer than ten minutes and by someone more obscure than Chopin or Liszt.....  

Have a look at:

Alkan - Sonata Quatre Ages, Symphony for Solo Piano, Concerto for Solo Piano
Busoni - Fantasia Contrapuntistica
Czerny - Sonatas (Czerny isn't obscure, but these are)
Agnew - Sonatas
Arensky - Pres Le Mer
Bortkiewicz - Ballade & Elegy
Bowen, Sonatas or Fantasia
Del Tredici - Mandango
Hinton - Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Grieg
Hough - Sonatas
Gould - Transcription of the Siegfried Idyll
Kodaly - Dances of Marosszek
Liebermann - Variations of a Theme by Schubert
Muczynski - Desperate Measures (Paganini Variations)
Poulenc - Suite or Suite Francaise
Reger - Variations and Fugue on a Theme by JS Bach
Roslavets - Sonatas
Rzewsky - The People United Will Never be Defeated
Sorabji - Lots of things
Stanchinsky - Sonatas
Szymanowsky - Sonatas
Tausig - Das Geisterschiff

That should get you started....

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Big thumbs up for the Alkan and Tausig. The Fantasy on Halka is much harder than Das Geisterschiff, which is easier than it sounds.

Liapunov TE12 in particular springs to mind, seeing as it's really a Russian Hungarian Rhapsody.

I'm particularly partial to Thalberg's fantasies on Moses, Sonnambula and La Traviata.

[lisztmusicfan]

Thank you so much to all who replied! That etude is very beautiful and you all gave me a BUNCH of things to keep me occupied for a while. I'm trying to explore lesser known composers, and thanks for all of your healp!
Sincerely,
Logan

[richard black]

Ronald Stevenson, 'Passacaglia on DSCH'. As massive as they come at 80-ish minutes, it's an astonishing piece and well worth the trouble (and nowhere near as hard as Alkan, Reger etc.)

[thalbergmad]

I'm particularly partial to Thalberg's fantasies on Moses, Sonnambula and La Traviata.

What taste

[awesom_o]

I would recommend Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata!

[cabbynum]

I would recommend Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata!

Why is this one neglected? It's gorgeous.

[awesom_o]

I try not to neglect it as best I can 

More and more people are performing it these days!

[cabbynum]

I like it more than the 2nd and the 1st is more accessible. I recently bought sheet music to both. I'd like to perform the first one within the next 5 years.

Massive works?

Alkan op.39 no.11 "the overture" a few of you know how partial I am to this piece. Something I've learned about this one is that each individual part is not terrible. There are some excruciatingly difficult passages but to play the whole thing is trecherous. The opening will tire you out before you even get into he hard stuff.

I think it's already been mentioned but his grande sonate would also fit in, it's constructed very oddly but if given a good performance it will make perfect sense.

Any Schubert sonata

Brahms sonatas aren't obscure but played less than is fair to their genius.

[kakeithewolf]

Hello all,
I'm looking for some bigger pieces that were written by lesser known composers (massive being compared to Chopin's Ballades or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies). This can mean massive in technical difficulty, long in length, or abounding with beauty! I just need some lesser-known, bigger pieces!

Thanks so much,
Logan

Length:

Beatus Vir, Jacob Mashak - 11 hours.
Rzewski's The Roard - 10 hours.
Inner Cities 1-14, Alvan Curran - 6 hours.
History of Photography in Sound, Michael Finnissy - 5.5 hours.

Technical difficulty:

Ravel's Gaspard De La Nuit (Ondine, Le Gibet, Scarbo) - About 21-22 minutes, and considered to be the hardest pieces of the standard repetoire.
Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum - About 4-4.5 hours, and considered to be the hardest piano piece overall.
Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto - About 40 minutes, and considered to be the hardest concerto.
Liszt's Transcendtal Etudes - About an hour, and one of the more challenging sets of etudes by a composer.
Liszt's Paganini Etudes - About 25 minutes, and close to the TE in difficulty.

Beauty I can't very well speak for. Beauty is much harder to define objectively than the other two criteria you posted. As such, I can't really give an answer.

[visitor]

I would recommend Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata!

agreed. also see any of the York Bowen soantas.  freakin' awesome!

[lisztmusicfan]

@kakei well then in your opinion what would be some of the most beautiful pieces you've heard? Your opinion may not be the same as mine but I still would love to hear suggestions.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I would recommend Rachmaninov's First Piano Sonata!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude!!!

NOBODY plays it!!!

Why?!?!?!

It's soo good!!!

But nobody plays it!!!

It's such a tragedy...

But anyways, do some of the Czerny sonatas.

The biggest one (no. 6) has I think 7 movements.  You thought the Hammerklavier was big?  NOT even!  Czernys 6th sonata dwarfs the hammerklavier!

And the 6th one is extra good because Czerny wrote it to commemorate Beethovens death.  So when he wrote that, he was playing NO GAMES!

And don't think these aren't obscure, because these ARE!  I mean, think about it, Czerny sonata?  what is a Czerny sonata?  Figure it out!  Learn the 6th one! 

Either that or the rach 1 sonata. 

[kakeithewolf]

@kakei well then in your opinion what would be some of the most beautiful pieces you've heard? Your opinion may not be the same as mine but I still would love to hear suggestions.

Ondine, Canon in D (for piano), Chrysilla, Liszt's Second Piano Concerto, Liebestraum no. 3, the Wiegenlied, the Papillon Etude, Totentanz, the Goldberg Variations, the Tempest Sonata, the Ocean Etude, and despite it's repetitive nature and horrid composer, In A Landscape.

[lisztmusicfan]

Amen to the ondine kakei! I'm a little obsessed with that piece right now

[kakeithewolf]

Amen to the ondine kakei! I'm a little obsessed with that piece right now

Same here. I'm also having that with Crux Fidelis, the Te Deum, Dies Irae, and Totentanz.

[cabbynum]

Same here. I'm also having that with Crux Fidelis, the Te Deum, Dies Irae, and Totentanz.

Mozart or Verdi dies irae, I'm guessing Verdi because I think you had a post not so long ago about how much you hate Mozart. I like both, just curious which one you are referring

[lisztmusicfan]

Same here. I'm also having that with Crux Fidelis, the Te Deum, Dies Irae, and Totentanz.

OHHHH BOY! The Dies Irae from Verdis Rquiem has to be a gift from God himself. Everything I listen it it I get chills! And the movement after it isretty fricking awesome as well.

[kakeithewolf]

Mozart or Verdi dies irae, I'm guessing Verdi because I think you had a post not so long ago about how much you hate Mozart. I like both, just curious which one you are referring

Neither. For Crux Fidelis, Te Deum, and Dies Irae, I meant the original Gregorian Chants from the Liber.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

OHHHH BOY! The Dies Irae from Verdis Rquiem has to be a gift from God himself. Everything I listen it it I get chills! And the movement after it isretty fricking awesome as well.

Pssssh!!!

The WHOLE requiem is freaking kickass!

[lisztmusicfan]

Pssssh!!!

The WHOLE requiem is freaking kickass!

Amen to that!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

So it turns out that the OP just wanted good music in general, not massive piano pieces lol.

[lisztmusicfan]

Well, I was looking for good massive pieces, but it kind of evolves into a thread about good music. But hey, I'm benefitting from all f these posts haha 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Well, I was looking for good massive pieces, but it kind of evolves into a thread about good music. But hey, I'm benefitting from all f these posts haha 

Aoaoaoaoaoaooh dude you should look at some Stanchinsky!

He was crazy so he burned all of his music before he committed suicide, but the stuff that he didn't burn is soo good!

[chopin2015]

Faure, Faure, FAURE!!!!!! 

[thalbergmad]

French impressionistic shite fit only for the bin.

There is nothing massive about Faure.

Thal

[lisztmusicfan]

... It's on.

[chopin2015]

but, but...Faure is pretty!

[ahinton]

French impressionistic shite fit only for the bin.

Nonsense!

There is nothing massive about Faure.

That much is undoubtedly true. Fauré, even...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

but, but...Faure is pretty!

I understand why you like it as it is women's music.

It is too effeminate for my manliness.

Thal

[cabbynum]

I understand why you like it as it is women's music.

It is too effeminate for my manliness.

Thal

Solid argument

[kakeithewolf]

I understand why you like it as it is women's music.

It is too effeminate for my manliness.

Thal

Now I have an awkward desire to listen to Faure...

[thalbergmad]

Nothing good comes of listening to Faure, apart from the desire to go to sleep.

Barring a couple of examples, the frogs of this era did not know how to compose for the piano and Faure is the kind of anti virtuoso stream of dreamy rubbish that I detest. Koechlin is a step upwards, but again is fit only for women.

Thal

[kakeithewolf]

Nothing good comes of listening to Faure, apart from the desire to go to sleep.

Barring a couple of examples, the frogs of this era did not know how to compose for the piano and Faure is the kind of anti virtuoso stream of dreamy rubbish that I detest. Koechlin is a step upwards, but again is fit only for women.

Thal

Alkan is the opposite. He's a virtuoso stream of dreamy rubbish.

[j_menz]

Aoaoaoaoaoaooh dude you should look at some Stanchinsky!

He was crazy so he burned all of his music before he committed suicide, but the stuff that he didn't burn is soo good!

It is only speculation that he committed suicide. He drowned, certainly, but whether he intended to is another matter.

If he did intend to destroy "all of his music", he fell well short. Quite a lot of it survives.  Well worth a look!

Agree with your comments on the Czerny 6th above, though note it is not yet back in print, though widely available in pdf. Bisel has done most of the rest of them (good but pricey).  A warning, though - Czerny can write some pretty spectacularly difficult stuff when he puts his mind to it, and in the sonatas he often does.

[chopin2015]

I understand why you like it as it is women's music.

It is too effeminate for my manliness.

Thal

HAHAHAHA

See, at least I am not offended! I can agree that I like Fauré because I am a girl, when you say that you do not like Fauré because it is not manly enough for you. Do you not like Saint-Saëns, then? Was he the Michael Jackson of that era? Just saying...

[chopin2015]

and how bout that franck piano quintet in f minor?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

It is only speculation that he committed suicide. He drowned, certainly, but whether he intended to is another matter.

If it's only speculation then it means that it's true. 

If it's a proven fact then it means that it's false.

DUH!!!

This is why you need to learn how to swim!

[thalbergmad]

Do you not like Saint-Saëns, then? Was he the Michael Jackson of that era? Just saying...

Saint-Saens is much more Lisztian, so yes I do like him. He knew how to write for the piano and so did Widor.

Thal

[ahinton]

I understand why you like it as it is women's music.

It is too effeminate for my manliness.

Strange, then, perhaps, that Fauré was such an inveterate womaniser...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Nothing good comes of listening to Faure, apart from the desire to go to sleep.

Nonsense! It may have that effect on you, but not everyone shares that attitude; if they did, few if any performers would bother to play it.

Barring a couple of examples, the frogs of this era did not know how to compose for the piano and Faure is the kind of anti virtuoso stream of dreamy rubbish that I detest. Koechlin is a step upwards, but again is fit only for women.

More nonsense! I have never known a frog or indeed any other creature write for the piano except humans. Fauré's music is hardly "anti-virtuoso". Although an organist, he knew well how to write for piano and did so frequently (in the songs as well as the piano music). There is no such thing as music fit only for one sex, any more than there's any way to tell whether  piece of music has been written by a man or a woman without knowing in advance the composer's identity.

Mention has been made above of Franck's Piano Quintet (OK, so you're probably talking about French composers and he was, of course, Belgian), but what of the Piano Quintet of Schmitt?

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I do not listen to froggy chamber music, Schmitt or otherwise.

Thal

[ahinton]

I do not listen to froggy chamber music, Schmitt or otherwise.

Then your musical life is that much the poorer.

Why any chamber music is being discussed in a thread on "Massive Piano Pieces", however, is quite beyond me.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Why Faure is being discussed in a "massive" thread is beyond me.

We need a wish washy airy fairy froggy sleep inducing constant stream of nothing thread.

Thal

[chopin2015]

Why Faure is being discussed in a "massive" thread is beyond me.

We need a wish washy airy fairy froggy sleep inducing constant stream of nothing thread.

Thal

HAHAHAHA

I mean...the same old Chopin Ballades get a little worn, after a while.

Why any chamber music is being discussed in a thread on "Massive Piano Pieces", however, is quite beyond me.

Best,

Alistair

Because some chamber works include piano and I often think playing with other musicians is a little more challenging...puts a spin on solo piano rep.