Looking for an ethnic piece..

[PoSeiDoN]

I've been wanting to play an Oriental/Asian-sounding piece, but I haven't found anything I like.  Any suggestions?

[Colette]

try pagodes, the first piece from estampes by debussy. he actually wrote it with the instruments of a japanese gamlin (sp?)orchestra in mind.

[pskim]

you mean Javanese gamelan?

[ludwig]

Yes, I think a Javanese Gamelan, two of Debussy's favourite keys were the pentatonic and the whole tone, and sometimes used them together. You could always try some Bartok.

[frederic]

I've got some contempory chinese piano music. But thats no use for you because i don't think you can find it anywhere except China.
They are actually quite nice but don't know how i can get it to you...
And have you heard of The Yellow River Concerto?
Its a cantata written by a famous chinese composer and was later transcribed into a piano concerto.
Naxos has made a recording of it with a famous chinese pianist (He was one of the people who transcribed it)
If you are interested to have a listen just go to www.naxos.com and search for it in the catalogue.
I know you don't want a concerto but its still worth a listen.

[xenia]

What about Serbian ethnic music?We have interesting melodies and some our composers have oriental  pieces ( because Serbian people was 500 years under Turkish authority.)

[thuesii]

hello there,, am from the philippines.we have her a very nice ethnic but not to percusive in style..it is rather a very enchanting music taken from the seetings of the ifugao tribe of kalinga apayao here inour country,,,the tittle is Salamisim by Lucio San pedro one of our antional artist for music.just tell me if you are interested then i will send you a copy..the difficulty lies in bringing out the enchantment and proper emphasis on the top note whie chords are being struck by the left and right hand,the pedalling and mood are very tricky.

[donjuan]

Maybe this isnt a very good suggestion, but you could check out Balakirev's Oriental Fantasy "Islamey".  but its viciously difficult..

this next one isnt oriental, but perhaps can be described as ethnic.  Have a look at Gottschalk's Brazillian anthem.  Of all anthems I have heard, this is my favorite!

[sirpazhan]

one word, three syllables:

Islamey

[shasta]

Ornstein's A la Chinoise
Saint-Saens piano concerto #5 (the "Egyptian")
Jiang's 12 Poems on Folk Festivals Op.53
Hsu's 5 Episodes for piano
Adam's "China Gates"
Lam's Flowers and Moonlight on a Spring River Op.12
Moy's Chinese Folk Song Theme and Variations
Tcherepnin's Chinese Concert Etudes Op.52

[Nordlys]

hello there,, am from the philippines.we have her a very nice ethnic but not to percusive in style..it is rather a very enchanting music taken from the seetings of the ifugao tribe of kalinga apayao here inour country,,,the tittle is Salamisim by Lucio San pedro one of our antional artist for music.just tell me if you are interested then i will send you a copy..the difficulty lies in bringing out the enchantment and proper emphasis on the top note whie chords are being struck by the left and right hand,the pedalling and mood are very tricky.

This music from the philippines I would be very interested in hearing. Is there a web page with a sample of the music or score?

[thuesii]

hello there..i can send the scores to you via email attachment if you like....i will be sending it via finale file...i hope you them..

[chopinetta]

oh yes... talk about my country... we do have lots of ethnic groups here. many artists have attempted to write piano transcriptions of philippine folk/ethnic music. i'll try to see if i can get some scores...

[chopinetta]

if you like something that really sounds ethnic, try searching for igorot music, or any philippine muslim music...

[quixoticcafe]

As a high schooler (many years ago) I remember going to Solo and Ensemble Festival and hearing a little Japanese girl play a piece by Hirai: Sakura-Sakura-A Fantasy For Piano. It is based on the most famous of all Japanese Folk Songs "Sakura-Sakura" or Cherry Blossom. My mother was chatting with the girl's adopted parents and they mailed me a copy. It was impressive and pretty easy to play although it sounded really difficult!

https://www.musicfromjapan.org/resources/m141w3.htm

[quixoticcafe]

I found an online performance of the Sakura which will give you a good idea of how it sounds:

https://www.prox.jpn.org/~piano/cyber/cyber_e.cgi?type=LISTALL&ID=all&COMPOSER=all&PLAYER=all

[pianowelsh]

There's one of Debussy's image is about an eastern temple but i forget which one i played through it once. Pagodes is one of the most succesful in this genre! Japanse there is the Shishido Toccata. It's hard though. I always think that the posthumous nocturne of Chopin in C# has an eastern quality to it but it is very romantic and tonal. There's the chinese music from the Tchaikovsky -pletnev Nutcracker transcription. Sorry my brain is a bit dry at the moment!!

[Nordlys]

There's one of Debussy's image is about an eastern temple but i forget which one i played through it once.

Images II no. 2 - "Et la Lune Descend sur le Temple qui Fut"

[pianowelsh]

That's the one thanks Nordlys!