Some recommended intermediate pieces

[libervir]

Could you guys do me a favor and list some pieces you used to play when you were at a lower intermediate level (such as Fur Elise [hard part] and Chopin's "Raindrop")?

I really want to build up my repertoire.

Thanks.

[Brian Healey]

There's a composition called "The Bell Flower" by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona that I really enjoy playing. It's technically not difficult but sounds great. Also, along those same lines is "Siciliana" by Alfredo Casella, which is a very beautiful piece.

If you're looking for more "standard" repertoire, here are some more suggestions off the top of my head:
Beethoven - Minuet in G
Handel - Sarabande
Schubert - March Militaire
Mendelssohn - Venetian Boat Song No. 2 (Op. 30, No. 6)
Brahms - E Waltz (Op. 39, No. 2)
and any number of things by Bach

[Piazzo22]

The most obvious response could be Mozart΄s K. 545 Sonata in C.

[jlh]

Tschaikovsky, Album For The Young
Debussy, Shepherd Boy, Cakewalk
Grieg, Am Waltz, Elfin Dance, Puck
Satie, Gymnopedies
Mendelsohn, Venetian Boat Songs
Haydn, Sonatas (early)
Beethoven, Sonatas (49/1 and 2)
McDowell, Witches' Dance
Mozart, Sonatas (K. 545 and K. 281) and Dm Fantasy
Bach, Two and Three Part Inventions
Chopin, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Preludes (selected)
Schubert, Improptus (90/2 and 4, 142/3)
Brahms, 76/3 and 4
Schumann, Papillons

Not knowing what you're capable of, some of these may be a bit diffucult.

[libervir]

Thanks very much. I've tried a couple of these.

[mound]

There's a composition called "The Bell Flower" by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona that I really enjoy playing. It's technically not difficult but sounds great.

I'm polishing up "Malaguena" by Ernesto Lecuona right now. A beautiful "crowd pleaser" type piece.. I'd call it intermediate level.. To play it at speed is a bit of a challenge, but the piece itself is pretty easy to learn.. Can totally picture a room full of Spanish woman screaming as the piano explodes in the fury of crashing notes toward the end

Great study in inversions as well.

[Brian Healey]

Lecuona is a fabulous composer. My favorite piece by him is actually "La Comparsa". I would call it perhaps a tough intemediate piece. There is nothing outrageously hard, but the leaps in the left hand might take some work for accuracy. It's really cool, though, the piece represents a carnival procession (or parade-type thing). So you start out very, very soft, as if the procession was distant. Then most of the piece is one big crescendo as you mimic the increasing volume as the procession gets closer. Finally, you're banging on the piano like a madman as the procession passes by, then it fades aways again into the distance. It's very exciting to both hear and play.

peace,
Bri

[mound]

Have you learned his Malaguena? I had never heard of him actually.. My grandmother has terminal cancer, and back in October she told me it was her favorite piece in the world (the guitar version I've recently come to find out)  when she asked me to "play Malaguena!" - so I looked it up and decided to try to learn it for her..  We promised each other "I promise to perform this for you if you promise to stick around to hear it" (we are all surprised she is still with us, it's that close  ) - I played it for her over Thanksgiving, albeit a slower version because I don't quite have it to speed just yet, and she started sobbing. I asked her why she was crying and she said "that was just beautiful, but that means I can die now."  - aaack.. I had to convince her that it still has a ways to go to be performance level.  Next week over Christmas she'll be amazed at the progress. I almost hesitate to play it though, because it's almost there (but I honestly don't think there will be another opportunity.)

Anyway, sorry for the sad story. This piece will forever be special to me because of this story.

As an aside, it is with this piece that I studied and really honed the methods presented by Bernhard and Chang.. There is no way I could have memorized and learned to execute all 140 bars of this energetic piece in such a short time had I kept doing things "the other way" so I can offer thanks to both of them for helping me to give her one of her last wishes.


-Paul

[HomeSchooler]

This was great!!
Just printed them off!!

Now how about some Late Beginner/Early Intermediate?

Thanx a million......*Nan*

[Nana_Ama]

This was great!!
...
Now how about some Late Beginner/Early Intermediate?
...

in order of progressive difficulty please 

[jlh]

There's always these for say, level 2-4:

Telemann, Notebook
J.S. Bach, Anna Magdalena Notebook
Khachaturian, Adventures of Ivan
Kabalevsky, Children's Pieces Op. 27, 39
Clementi, Sonatinas Op. 36, 37, 38
Prokofiev, Children's Pieces
McDowell, Woodland Sketches

[Daniel_piano]

Tschaikovsky, Album For The Young

I thought this was beginner, like grade 1 or 2
Maybe that's why when I found it harder than I believed, just I thought it was my fault

Mozart, Sonatas (K. 545 and K. 281) and Dm Fantasy

What about the K. 382

Schubert, Improptus (90/2 and 4, 142/3)

And the 90 n3 ?

[jlh]

Yeah, the Album For The Young has aspects of it that students don't normally master until later.

K. 382 might be another option... I only offered a few sample pieces from the repertoire.

90 n3 might work, but a lot of students don't learn scales well enough to do this one too early.  It's one of my favorite of the Impromptus, though.

[dmk]

Schubert, Improptus (90/2 and 4, 142/3)

JLH,


You have got to be kidding that the Rosamunde Impromptu (op 142 n3) is at a lower intermediate.  Although op 90 n2 is easier the same comment applies.  I think the easiest impromptu is probably op 142 n2.....


I am sorry, I just can't agree with your classification..

[jlh]

Perhaps I did get a bit too far into the intermediate-advanced category, I don't know.  Please also see my disclaimer at the bottom of that list.

[waldstein]

Some "classical pieces"

Haydn's Gypsy Rondo - get that into your repertoire - classy piece

Schubert's impromptu in Efalt - Op 90 no 3.I dont think that is anywhere close to beginner level - atleast not the intermediate sections.

Beethoven - Turkish March from the ruins of Athens (I dont know if it was written for piano, but the piano version also sounds beautiful).
Beethoven - Eccosiases

[Awakening]

Schubert Impromptu 90/2 in E Flat is definitely not an intermediate piece.  I'd say it's intermediate advanced, or something along those lines.  Good luck getting an intermediate pianist to play that fast, not to mention it's about 9 pages long.  Out of the question. 

[fuel925]

You could try some chopin preludes, there are several which are intermediate difficulty.