Piano Forum

Topic: Easy dark and mysterious pieces  (Read 12034 times)

Offline Rez

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 29
Easy dark and mysterious pieces
on: February 04, 2005, 09:13:14 PM
Hi all,

I returning to the piano after a LONG hiatus.  Recently I've (mostly) learned Bach's Invention #1 and Chopin's Prelude's #4 and 6--as an indication of technical level.

I'm looking for some easy pieces, levels 1-4.  Something dark, mysterious, uncluttered, somewhat dissonant, modern.  Pieces that come to mind in terms of the musical feel are Ravel's le gibet,  Chopin's Nocturnes, Schoenberg's Six Little Piano pieces, Satie's gymnopedie 1 and 2, I've seen the very helpful posts on Easiest and Greatest piano pieces and Beginners Repetoire.  I'm trying to narrow it down to a few pieces I can get under my fingers as quick adds to my repetoire. 

I'm not taking lessons, yet, so I don't have a teacher to ask.  Soon, I hope.  Part of why I lost interest way back when was due to the vapid sweetness of what I was learning, so I'm limiting my sweets.  I also took up the guitar, but that's another story.



The artist does nothing that others deem beautiful, but rather only what to him is a necessity.
~Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony

Offline cognoscentus

  • PS Silver Member
  • Newbie
  • ***
  • Posts: 17
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #1 on: February 07, 2005, 06:48:17 PM
I would add to your list Ravel's La vallee des cloches and Oiseaux tristes from his Miroirs suite.  Also, Satie's six Gnossiennes.  Note that many editions only contain the first three - try to find all 6, as number 4 is especially good.

Good luck.

Offline DarkWind

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 729
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #2 on: February 07, 2005, 09:04:03 PM
All the Ravel pieces mentioned in here are not easy. Not one bit.  Maybe the Miroirs won't cause a high amount of trouble, but Le Gibet! That work is insane, too much hand shifting and chord playing, and to give the right mood is damn near impossible. I would rather recommend a piece such as Liszt's Nuages Gris or the Threnodies from the Third Year of Pilgrimage.

Offline Brian Healey

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 454
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #3 on: February 08, 2005, 06:16:44 PM
I second Darkwind with Nuages Gris by Liszt. The "easy-to-play-yet-dark-and-mysterious" factor on that piece is pretty high. Also maybe check out Debussy's Prelude No. 2 (from book 1) entitled "Voiles." It's very high on the mysterious factor, but some parts of it are not so easy. Another suggestion might be Luigi Dallapiccola's "Quaderno Musicale di Annalibra," which is a set of 12 (I think) short twelve-tone pieces, many of which are not very hard.


Peace,
Bri

Offline lenny

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 541
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #4 on: February 09, 2005, 05:01:54 AM
try some scriabin preludes, some of the greatest short pieces in the whole literature
love,peace,hope,fresh coconuts

Offline Rez

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 29
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #5 on: February 09, 2005, 04:57:46 PM
Thank you for these most excellent suggestions.  They are right on the mark.  I'd have never thought of Liszt as a source for an "easy" piece.  Now I know.  I'd never heard of Dallapiccola before, but this is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to find.  Finding the true gems among the twelve-tone pieces is not always so easy. I'll listen more closely to the pieces by Ravel, Satie and Scriabin to see which are manageable.  I'm a big fan of Scriabin and would like to learn something by him.

Thanks again.





The artist does nothing that others deem beautiful, but rather only what to him is a necessity.
~Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony

Offline ujos3

  • PS Silver Member
  • Jr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 42
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #6 on: February 09, 2005, 06:07:19 PM

Charles Alkan's "Chanson de la folle au bord de la mer".

It is easy and it makes me freeze . It is really creepy. It causes horror. You can download the file from the Alkan's web.


Offline Brian Healey

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 454
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #7 on: February 09, 2005, 06:36:21 PM
hey ujos3, do have a link for that? I wouldn't mind checking it out. I did a google search, but didn't find any Alkan pages that have scores. Thanks




Peace,
Bri

Offline bernhard

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 5078
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #8 on: February 09, 2005, 08:23:41 PM
hey ujos3, do have a link for that? I wouldn't mind checking it out. I did a google search, but didn't find any Alkan pages that have scores. Thanks




Peace,
Bri

https://piano.francais.free.fr/alkan/

Enjoy!

Best wishes,
Bernhard
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. (Hunter Thompson)

Offline Brian Healey

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 454
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #9 on: February 09, 2005, 09:44:00 PM
Thanks, Bernhard!

For anyone else looking for it, it's Op. 31, no. 8. I had a hard time finding it.


Peace,
Bri

Offline lenny

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 541
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #10 on: February 09, 2005, 10:01:38 PM
Thank you for these most excellent suggestions.  They are right on the mark.  I'd have never thought of Liszt as a source for an "easy" piece.  Now I know.  I'd never heard of Dallapiccola before, but this is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to find.  Finding the true gems among the twelve-tone pieces is not always so easy. I'll listen more closely to the pieces by Ravel, Satie and Scriabin to see which are manageable.  I'm a big fan of Scriabin and would like to learn something by him.

Thanks again.







the best scriabin pieces to start with are the preludes - they cover his whole range of styles and are amazingly varied, and they are so short! you can learn one in a couple days easily if youre good.
love,peace,hope,fresh coconuts

Offline lenny

  • PS Silver Member
  • Sr. Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 541
Re: Easy dark and mysterious pieces
Reply #11 on: February 09, 2005, 10:03:47 PM

Charles Alkan's "Chanson de la folle au bord de la mer".

It is easy and it makes me freeze . It is really creepy. It causes horror. You can download the file from the Alkan's web.




yes AMAZING PIECE!, so unique , and an amazing use of the lower register of the piano.

the title means - song of the insane woman by the sea/shore.

play it for an ex-girlfirend that you dislike!  ;D
love,peace,hope,fresh coconuts
For more information about this topic, click search below!

Piano Street Magazine:
New Piano Piece by Chopin Discovered – Free Piano Score

A previously unknown manuscript by Frédéric Chopin has been discovered at New York’s Morgan Library and Museum. The handwritten score is titled “Valse” and consists of 24 bars of music in the key of A minor and is considered a major discovery in the wold of classical piano music. Read more
 

Logo light pianostreet.com - the website for classical pianists, piano teachers, students and piano music enthusiasts.

Subscribe for unlimited access

Sign up

Follow us

Piano Street Digicert