Brahms piano pieces

[pianist21]

Hello! I am currently working on my recital program, and I am in need of some romantic repertoire. I am thinking about playing some Brahms--either the Op. 117 intermezzi or both Op.79 pieces. I have pretty small hands so I was thinking the op 79 no 1 might strain my hands too much, but I was wanting someone else's opinion. Another piece  I was considering was Jeux D'eau by Ravel. My other recital pieces are:

- Schubert's 10 Variations in F Major D. 156
- Copland's Piano Variations
-Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G Major

I am having a hard time deciding what to play because I love all of these pieces, so I was wondering  which pieces do you think would go best on my program? My recital is not until next year btw.

Thanks in advance!

[visitor]

do the Singer transcription for solo piano, a movement (1st would be rad) of the piano quintet!

https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Quintet,_Op.34_(Brahms,_Johannes)

arrangement appears at bottom of list for transcriptions.

[beethovenfan01]

I would say the Intermezzi are the easier option here, shorter and slightly easier to learn and interpret than the Rhapsodies. The Rhapsodies be a very powerhouse addition to your program, wheras the Intermezzi are more mellow, like the rest of the program also seems to be. Do you want something that sticks out? Take the Rhapsodies. Otherwise, go with the Intermezzi.

Continuing down the contrast road, you could explore a number of his capriccios and Klavierstucke that he wrote around the same time, all of which are fabulous pieces. Think along the same lines as with the Rhapsodies and Intermezzi: The Capriccios and Ballade are going to be more intense and prominent, the Intermezzi and Romance are quieter and more mellow.

On a side note, the Ravel is also a great idea and I do recommend it.

But in the end you have to make this decision yourself.

Have fun!

[ianm]

Brahms' op. 118 is also a wonderful choice that is at a intermediary difficulty between the op. 117 and op. 79. You could select your favourite pieces from the set (my personal favourite is no. 6 in E-flat minor), and they would provide a challenge based on your other repertoire without being as strenuous as the op. 79 rhapsodies.

Ian

[j_tour]

I finally a few days ago was reading through the Op. 118 and was pleasantly surprised at the tunes I never hacked through yet.  Previously I've played (and still sometimes replay) the Dies Irae and the A major from that set.  But I also discovered there are good things in Op. 116 -- the Capriccio (I think it's the last one of that set) is an amusing little semi-étude on rattling off diminished arpeggios, shared between both hands.  Probably a cute little one just rattle off for the sheer fun of it.

I played the B minor rhapsody as a kid, and I still try to dust it off every now and then -- my only caution is that it's so easy to mush the "A" section with the sustain pedal.  I'm not sure that's cheating, and I don't like the way it sounds with no pedal, like Gould played it, but it's much more challenging if you're really scrupulous about not just sort of "close enough" with the LH chords.  That, and the modified repeat of the A section towards the middle, with heavy harmonic variations is kind of a hassle to remember. 

However, you get a nice, not very difficult part after the first D-minor passage to just bang out those octaves up and down -- sort of one of those spots that probably impresses the peanut gallery, but can be a spot to relax a bit, at least mentally and basically play with your fists (not literally, but, you know, just play with arm weight, pretty much).

But at least the ascending F lydian rapid scale is all white notes, so I guess you *could* just make it a gliss, but that would be really cheating.  At least the Gbmaj HT scale kind of plays itself, at least compared to the F scale, for my fingers.