wonderful, short pieces

[op.109]

Hello,

I am considering starting a schedule of regular performaces of shorter (3-5 minutes) classical piano pieces at a church (perhaps once every two weeks or month).  I've already got a number of short pieces ready to go, but am debating what other ones to do.  What are some of the greatest pieces of piano music you can think of between 3 and 5 minutes in length?  Of course there's a little flexibility there, but any suggestions you may have are appreciated.  Any level of difficulty is fine.

[sharon_f]

Scarlatti: all of the Sonatas
Handel: any of the dances from his many suites
Bach Preludes & Fugues (well, maybe not both together), any of the single dances from the French & English Suites
Beethoven Bagatelles
Chopin Waltzes, Preludes, Etudes
Mendelssohn Songs Without Words
Brahms Intermezzi, Capriccios, Ballades
Debussy Arabesques, Preludes, Etudes
Shostakovich Preludes
Mompou Preludes, Cancion y danzas
the list is virtually endless

[Belgedin]

Don't forget Bach's Two and Three voice inventions.

The Toccata from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm is about 2:30.

The Goldberg Variations

Schubert's "Musical Moments" are under four minutes (atleast the ones I like are.)

[dinosaurtales]

Chopin's Nocturnes

[Regulus Medtner]

Try sampling some of Medtner's Tales, (e.g. op. 20 no.1, op. 14 no.2, op.26 no.1, op.48 no.1) or his Stimmungsbilder op.1 (and especially the prologue). All of these pieces (he wrote over 30 Tales, I think) are great and many of them have a spiritual significance that is reflected in the music.

[shasta]

Tchaik's The Seasons
Bartok's Mikrokosmos
Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances
Villa-Lobos The Baby's Family
Muczynski's preludes (Op 6??)
Lecuona's Andalusia Suite
Granados Danzas Espanolas
Granados Valses poéticos
Granados Goyescas
Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr
Albeniz's Iberia
Albeniz's Suite Espanola
Schumann's Scenes from Childhood
Ginastera's Danzas argentinas
Ginastera's 12 American Preludes

[rafant]

Since you mention you are going to play in a church, one wonders if it is intended as part of the christian cult.  If so, you should be very selective, choosing better religious or christian music. If not, go ahead with the excelent suggestions above.
For common listeners any classical piece works well as a religious piece. But of course it's a mistake. Once an invited pianist played wonderfully Fur Elise, in our Sunday's cult, but to me such a cute piece was quite out of place.

[op.109]

I appreciate all of your imput!

At first I was a bit wary of playing in a church, but I get the impression that in this church they have alot of music (not necessarily just piano, but everything) and not all of the music is worship music.  My teacher played the final movement of a Beethoven Sonata for them last week; it was received well.  I'm supposed to be doing a Chopin etude for them in a bit-if I like the experience I may choose to perform regularly there.  It would be a wonderful, relatively low pressure performance outlet (or so I hope).

[SteinwayTony]

Since you mention you are going to play in a church, one wonders if it is intended as part of the christian cult.  If so, you should be very selective, choosing better religious or christian music. If not, go ahead with the excelent suggestions above.
For common listeners any classical piece works well as a religious piece. But of course it's a mistake. Once an invited pianist played wonderfully Fur Elise, in our Sunday's cult, but to me such a cute piece was quite out of place.

Good observation.  Accordingly, stay away from Suggestion Diabolique. 

I'm a little confused.  Are these actual recitals, or will you be performing in front the audience that is already there for Mass service?

[earthward]

Most of the Grieg Lyric pieces are quite short.  Some are blah but there's some gems in there too.

[steinwayguy]

The Opus 25 Chopin etudes? 

[JLK]

Hey, well I love the Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues-some of them are perhaps not suitable for church but others are quite reflective (the one in A major)!

[fnork]

go for the shostakovich a major prelude if you want to, I love that piece. A bit too short perhaps, but really beautiful. And why not learn the fugue too? Not one of the hardest, I think...

[earthward]

Just thought of another: Prokofiev Visisons Fugitives.  Really fun to play.

[pianowelsh]

selections from schumanns fantasystucke are always popular!

[e60m5]

The Goldberg Variations

 

[Ed Marlo]

Haydn Sonata in E Minor  I Presto. 

Just shy of 3:30 I think..

[Bartolomeo]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned using excerpts from larger works.  A movement from a Beethoven sonata, for example.   Where time is a limitation, one can skip repeats or sections (with care, of course) in longer pieces.

Also, most of the Schubert impromptus are about the right length.  There are also some gospel piano compilations and hymn tune improvisations that one can purchase, that are suitable for that situation.

I play piano and organ in church, and depending on the church a certain amount of sensistivity to the history of the material may be called for.  On the one extreme, there are churches where the organist plays bwv 565 on halloween, due to its tie in with some halloween movie or other, but that isn't something I'd pull in any of the churches I serve.  On the other extreme some clergy are uncomfortable with the traditional Mendelssohn and Wagner wedding standards because they have pagen roots.